Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Preview Shelf -- Here Is The Upcoming Library Holiday Schedule
This year's schedule of closings at the Crawfordsville District Public Library encompasses Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays, namely December 23, 24, and 25, and December 30, 31, and January 1st. The staff wishes everyone happy holidays. There is a new translation of "War and Peace" by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky to be more faithful to Tolstoy's style and accessible prose. Sean Covey's "The 6 Most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make" looks like an important guide for teens about academic stress, parent commmunication, media bombardment, dating drama, abuse, bullying, addictions, depression and peer pressure. Current event treatises begin with Mike Evans' "The Final Move Beyond Iraq" which he says is the battle for the soul of America. "Afghanistan: A Companion and Guide" by Bijan Omrani and Matthew Leeming, which in a world full of books about abuses and terror, gives greater confidence that the country might be firmly put on the road to recovery; it is published to appeal to the armchair traveller by including history and culture, 19 maps and many color photos. "The Devil Came on Horseback" is Brian Steidle's document as a witness to the genocide in Darfur. Anne McKinney offers three volumes of "Real Resumes", one about manufacturing jobs, one about administrative support, office & secretarial jobs, and one about customer service jobs. Four new books discuss houses. "Frank Lloyd Wright Design" by Maria Constantino shows many of his buildings illustrating his constant goal to move forward with new concepts. "House Thinking" is Winifred Gallagher's room-by-room look at how we can make arrangements more logical. "Smaller, Smarter Home Plans" from the Garlinghouse Company features 300 space-saving designs. "Let's Get Comfortable" is Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams' illustrated manual of welcoming interiors. A beautiful colored craft book is "Basketry: A World Guide to Traditional Techniques" by Bryan Sentence. An equally appealing volume is Frank and Stephen Philbrick's "The Backyard Lumberjack" showing felling, bucking, splitting, and stacking. "Start Your Own Business on eBay" is explained by Jacquelyn Lynn . MP Dunleavey's "Money Can Buy Happiness" shows how to get out of debt, and how to spend to get the life you want. Moira and Nicholas Hankinson's "Recycle!" contains 60 projects for home and garden using materials at hand, like an ax-handle stool, hoop chandelier, slate-tiled wall, and a cast-iron boiler planter. An instructional manual about "Photography" by Barbara London et al teaches skills, emphasizing both technique and visual awareness. "Math for the Trades" offers skills needed for work from Learning Express. Two animal books are Jon Katz' "Dog Days" telling about the animals of Bedlam Farm in the unpredictable adventure of farm life. "Penquin Life" by Andy Rouse photographs scenes of the Antarctic species including Macaroni, Rockhopper, Gentoo, and Chinstrap penguins."The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman is about our effects on the planet, how if humans disappeared our massive infrastructure would collapse and vanish, while some of our highest art and culture might endure for a while.Jack Devitt's "Indiana Toolmakers and Their Tools" explains American "whatsits", tools whose value and use are not readily apparent, dedicated to Milan Ramsey who studied them. His lifelong mission of giving hope to the world describes the series of photographs that show "Billy Graham: God's Ambassador" by Russ Busby. "Faith & Doubt" is an anthology of poems edited by Patrice Vecchione
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Preview Shelf -- Holiday Library Books are Easy to Find
On the Crawfordsville District Public Library main floor the east wall has a colorful label to indicate the youth department's holiday materials, books, videos, and DVDs placed together for your convenience, and marked with a green candy cane label. Upstairs is a section collecting Christmas reading on both sides of the third set of shelves from the elevator. Here's some new fiction. Nicolas Sparks' "The Choice" is a tale about love found and lost, and the decisions we hope we'll never have to make. Doris Lessing's "The Cleft" finds an aging Roman senator telling the story of an ancient community of women living in an coastal wilderness Eden. "The White Cascade" is Gary Krist's recounting of the Great Northern Railway disaster and America's deadliest avalanche in 1910. Leslie Meier's "Bake Sale Murder" is about cul-de-sac politics and backstabbing .Susan Mallery's "Irresistible" is about romance. Debbie Macomber's "Back on Blossom Street" weaves a tale of a variety of women in a Seattle knitting class who help each other solve their personal problems. "Beautiful Dreamer" by Christopher Bigsby finds a white man trying to prevent a lynching in a small southern town, then finding himself branded by the mob."Letter from Point Clear" by Dennis McFarland is about the Alabama south, dealing with character differences and attempts to soothe them. "Code Black" by Philip Donlay is an airplane thriller. "Regatta" is Benjamin Ivry's celebration of oarsmanship for all of us who passed that way and enjoyed being part of a racing crew. Another helpful book is "Stealing Your Life" in which Frank Abagnale offers the ultimate identity theft prevention plan. "Rural Renaissance" by John Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist is a personal guide to the joys of country living and the statistics and resources that help. Voyage of the Turtle" by Carl Safina pursues the earth's last dinosaur. Thorsten Milse's "Little Polar Bears" is a book of photographs from the Wapusk National Park west of Hudson Bay which protects them while still allowing controlled visits to the area. Erin Williams and Margo DeMello's "Why Animals Matter: The Case for Animal Protection" puts forward the idea that making humane choices helps our whole planet. New possibilities fill "Retired with Husband: Superwoman's New Challenge" by Mary Louise Floyd. "House of Testosterone" holds Sharon O'Donnell's hilarious essays of survival as a mom in a household of males. "Hard Call" is John McCain's review of historic great decisions; some were Winston Churchill's foresight in preparing England's Navy for war, Gertrude Ederle's confidence in swimming the English Channel, Reinhold Niebuhr's humility in changing his pacifist views, and Lincoln's decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Betty Rollin's "Here's the Bright Side" is about the silver linings in clouds, in other words it's a funny book about surprising upsides to challenging low blows. Preacher Tony Campolo's "Letters to a Young Evangelical" argues against politically polarized and predominantly secular living. Kerry Patterson and four other authors' "Influencer: The Power to Change Anything" begins with three ideas - motivating others to change, replacing bad behaviors with powerful new skills, and making things happen. Leonard Susskind's "The Cosmic Landscape" explains his thoughts about string theory and the illusion of intelligent design. "Ancestral Trails" The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History" is Mark Herber's second helpful edition.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Five Artists Celebrate the Season in CDPL's Art Gallery!
Watching softly falling snowflakes wafting down from the heavens to cover brown leaves and dirty sidewalks left over from fall, is one of the more delicious delights of every delicious December. The twinkling beauty of nature's winter coat, couched in frigid air and crispy underfoot crunch, can easily entice you to build a silent, silly snowman complete with carrot nose for deer to feast on. When your tootsies freeze and the twirling wind nips at your nose, may we take this opportunity to warmly welcome you to the exquisite beauty of nature's indoor wonders pirouetting on the Walls and in the Display Cases of the Library's Mary Bishop Art Gallery for the month of December.
NATURE'S BOUNTY: SCULPTURES & LIFE CASTINGS by Jo Funk-Lauctes
The Display Cases are filled to the brim with original sculptures and castings created by Crawfordsville's own nature artist, Jo Funk-Lautes. Exercising her artistic versatility as a child, Jo found herself drawing pictures and carving wood any time she was free of other responsibilities. As an adult she engulfed herself in a career that created beauty in the dental lab, which she owned, and at home where she was a practicing artist.
Feeling stifled by previous jobs with no creativity, Jo flourished as a dental technician. She honed her artistic talent by working meticulously on her creativity both at home and at work. After 25 years of owning and working in her dental lab, Jo began selling her sculptures and castings and was delighted with the positive public response.
Eight years after carving her first piece, which ignited a desire to further this art medium, Jo constructed creative works for pleasure and commercial markets.
In 1999, she was commissioned to help create the Hunter Dan Large Game Series; a toy line that found it's way onto the shelves of Cabella's and other outdoor retailers. She carved and created multiple game accessories including replicas of the largest record holding buck and deer in the nation. With this, Jo's talents began to spread far beyond the wildlife realm and into a diversity of creative efforts.
Skilled in a range of mediums, Jo creates carvings, paintings, life castings, intricate jewelry, sculptures and wood burnings. Her collection shows a range of diversity that is limited only by her imagination. From incredibly small, detailed pieces, like jewelry, to a life-size statue, her abilities prove no piece is too small or large for her talents and passion. All of her pieces illustrate the things that Jo values most in her life.
Currently working on a new line of sculptures, Jo will work on every aspect of the pieces from creation in clay, to mold making, pouring the final piece into the mold and masterfully painting it. These pieces will be debuted and available online in 2008.
STRIKINGLY BEAUTIFUL HAND-MADE VIOLINS by Alan Frodge
What a delight to learn that cozy, comfy Crawfordsville can claim one of its citizens as a real-life Hand Made Violin Maker. WOW! Alan Frodge started making violins in 2004 and so far has made eight. He gave the first three to his nieces in Florida whose children play bluegrass. Alan himself began to play after making his first violin and is still learning.
His interest in creating violins was peaked by his Crawfordsville friend Archie Krout and a Stone Bluff friend Jerry Kelly.
It takes Alan about a month to make a violin. Though he has never kept track of the hours, he suspects it takes him over 100 hours to make one. His violins are all hand carved, including the scroll. The only parts purchased are the pegs, tailpiece, bridge, fingerboard and chin rest. The fingerboard and bridge are purchased rough and are hand-shaped to their final dimension. The purfling (the thin line of trim on the top and back) on all his violins is cut in, not painted on.
You will find two of Alan's Violins encased in the Display Case closest to the elevator on the Library's first floor. His #5 violin is unusual in that the neck, sides and back are made from sycamore rather than the usual maple. In his continuing search for knowledge on violin construction, he read that the wood of the sycamore has sometimes been used to make violins. So, he tried it! And liked the results! The sycamore, which gives a more mellow tone than maple, is highly figured and was purchased from Pennsylvania. The top is made from standard European spruce. This violin is priced at $800.00.
Alan's second violin, #6, includes all the things he wanted to try in one violin. First, the neck, sides and back are made from walnut grown on his farm. Alan says walnut is not normally used for violins, but he found the sound to be good and it looks nice. The next thing you will want to notice is the carved Lion's
Head on the top where there is usually a scroll. This carving took a lot longer to carve than a scroll because it is more intricate and Alan had never carved one before. The next thing you will notice is that there are no points at the c-bouts (center of the violin). Jerry Kelly told Alan that Antonio Stradivari once made a violin with no points, so Alan decided to try it. And the last thing you will notice is the light color of the edge on the top. That was achieved by wiping off the colored varnish in this area. This violin is priced at $900.00.
Alan has a website with additional information and illustrations if you would like to tap into it. The address is www.alanfrodge.com.
TIPPECANOE COUNTY ARTISTS TRI-BECCA: Rebecca Chapman
Rebecca (Becky) Chapman is a Lafayette artist specializing in oils, watercolors and colored pencil. Her compositions emphasize places she has traveled, floral themes and illustrations from literature.
Chapman enjoys creating art inspired by literature, poetry, songs, nature, travel and personal themes. Many of her images in this exhibit are pencil illustrations. Drawing has always been a natural way for her to express feelings or to create a certain mood. Even in her watercolors, she reaches for a pencil to create extra detail.
Her drawings usually tell a story from a song, literature or private thoughts and reflections. She has a set of drawings illustrating the song, "The Greatest Man I Never Knew", by Reba McIntire. The drawing of the figure emerging from a seed depicts a theme of personal growth from Henry David Thoreau's "Walden Pond". Other stories that have inspired her art are: "The Rabbits of Watership Down", "A Girl of the Limberlost" by Gene Stratton Porter, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", and "The Tell Tale Heart".
On travels with her husband throughout the year, Rebecca carries a sketchbook which allows her to create a special and personal souvenir of the trip and sketches that may someday become a painting.
Images of flowers and birds, most especially the intricate detail on the petal of a flower or the feather of a bird become both inspirational and a challenge to recreate for Becky. She enjoys capturing the beauty of birds remembered from growing up on a farm, the red-winged blackbird, the meadowlark, junco and a bluebird family. She is fascinated by their diversity, color and behavior.
Becky works within strict guidelines and tight deadlines as a graphic designer. Her personal drawing and painting allow her more freedom in the use of oils, watercolors, and colored pencils in Fine Art themes. The Fine Arts are her first love, though she does enjoy creating brochures or ads that communicate the essence of a business or organization. On occasion Becky has fun combining both graphic design and fine art in a single project.
TIPPECANOE COUNTY ARTISTS TRI-BECCA: Rebecca Longster
This Tippecanoe artist, Rebecca Longster is a writer, teacher and lover of words. That last comes in handy, as she teaches a variety of writing and literature classes in the Department of English at Purdue and for Purdue Statewide Technology. She is a recent graduate of the Stonecoast Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program through the University of Southern Maine, where she majored in Popular Fiction, and in late 2006, she started a local writers group for writers of genre or popular fiction in Indiana. This Rebecca finds it relaxing to express her creativity through visual art as well as through writing. She enjoys working in pencil, pastels, acrylics, and water colors, and is particularly interested in portraiture, unique places, and natural landscapes.
TIPPECANOE COUNTY ARTISTS TRI-BECCA: Rebecca Peters
This third Tippecanoe County Tri-Becca is a children's counselor and has been involved in art since she was old enough to hold a crayon. Her Dad still has a picture she drew when she was 5 years old. For the last few years she's been taking art classes from Betty Goodrich at the Morton Center in Lafayette. Rebecca has been a member of the Wabash Artist Alliance for the last three years. She enjoys all types of subject matter, working with pastels and more recently, acrylics. Rebecca finds her art a relaxing endeavor after her professional work as a child therapist for a local community mental health agency.
We hope you have warmed your body and soul with the beauty of nature's indoor wonders as interpreted by each of our FIVE ARTISTS CELEBRATING THE SEASON. Your tracks will be warmer now in the crispy, crunchy winter wonderland. Do come often and stay long!
Written by Diane Hammill
NATURE'S BOUNTY: SCULPTURES & LIFE CASTINGS by Jo Funk-Lauctes
The Display Cases are filled to the brim with original sculptures and castings created by Crawfordsville's own nature artist, Jo Funk-Lautes. Exercising her artistic versatility as a child, Jo found herself drawing pictures and carving wood any time she was free of other responsibilities. As an adult she engulfed herself in a career that created beauty in the dental lab, which she owned, and at home where she was a practicing artist.
Feeling stifled by previous jobs with no creativity, Jo flourished as a dental technician. She honed her artistic talent by working meticulously on her creativity both at home and at work. After 25 years of owning and working in her dental lab, Jo began selling her sculptures and castings and was delighted with the positive public response.
Eight years after carving her first piece, which ignited a desire to further this art medium, Jo constructed creative works for pleasure and commercial markets.
In 1999, she was commissioned to help create the Hunter Dan Large Game Series; a toy line that found it's way onto the shelves of Cabella's and other outdoor retailers. She carved and created multiple game accessories including replicas of the largest record holding buck and deer in the nation. With this, Jo's talents began to spread far beyond the wildlife realm and into a diversity of creative efforts.
Skilled in a range of mediums, Jo creates carvings, paintings, life castings, intricate jewelry, sculptures and wood burnings. Her collection shows a range of diversity that is limited only by her imagination. From incredibly small, detailed pieces, like jewelry, to a life-size statue, her abilities prove no piece is too small or large for her talents and passion. All of her pieces illustrate the things that Jo values most in her life.
Currently working on a new line of sculptures, Jo will work on every aspect of the pieces from creation in clay, to mold making, pouring the final piece into the mold and masterfully painting it. These pieces will be debuted and available online in 2008.
STRIKINGLY BEAUTIFUL HAND-MADE VIOLINS by Alan Frodge
What a delight to learn that cozy, comfy Crawfordsville can claim one of its citizens as a real-life Hand Made Violin Maker. WOW! Alan Frodge started making violins in 2004 and so far has made eight. He gave the first three to his nieces in Florida whose children play bluegrass. Alan himself began to play after making his first violin and is still learning.
His interest in creating violins was peaked by his Crawfordsville friend Archie Krout and a Stone Bluff friend Jerry Kelly.
It takes Alan about a month to make a violin. Though he has never kept track of the hours, he suspects it takes him over 100 hours to make one. His violins are all hand carved, including the scroll. The only parts purchased are the pegs, tailpiece, bridge, fingerboard and chin rest. The fingerboard and bridge are purchased rough and are hand-shaped to their final dimension. The purfling (the thin line of trim on the top and back) on all his violins is cut in, not painted on.
You will find two of Alan's Violins encased in the Display Case closest to the elevator on the Library's first floor. His #5 violin is unusual in that the neck, sides and back are made from sycamore rather than the usual maple. In his continuing search for knowledge on violin construction, he read that the wood of the sycamore has sometimes been used to make violins. So, he tried it! And liked the results! The sycamore, which gives a more mellow tone than maple, is highly figured and was purchased from Pennsylvania. The top is made from standard European spruce. This violin is priced at $800.00.
Alan's second violin, #6, includes all the things he wanted to try in one violin. First, the neck, sides and back are made from walnut grown on his farm. Alan says walnut is not normally used for violins, but he found the sound to be good and it looks nice. The next thing you will want to notice is the carved Lion's
Head on the top where there is usually a scroll. This carving took a lot longer to carve than a scroll because it is more intricate and Alan had never carved one before. The next thing you will notice is that there are no points at the c-bouts (center of the violin). Jerry Kelly told Alan that Antonio Stradivari once made a violin with no points, so Alan decided to try it. And the last thing you will notice is the light color of the edge on the top. That was achieved by wiping off the colored varnish in this area. This violin is priced at $900.00.
Alan has a website with additional information and illustrations if you would like to tap into it. The address is www.alanfrodge.com.
TIPPECANOE COUNTY ARTISTS TRI-BECCA: Rebecca Chapman
Rebecca (Becky) Chapman is a Lafayette artist specializing in oils, watercolors and colored pencil. Her compositions emphasize places she has traveled, floral themes and illustrations from literature.
Chapman enjoys creating art inspired by literature, poetry, songs, nature, travel and personal themes. Many of her images in this exhibit are pencil illustrations. Drawing has always been a natural way for her to express feelings or to create a certain mood. Even in her watercolors, she reaches for a pencil to create extra detail.
Her drawings usually tell a story from a song, literature or private thoughts and reflections. She has a set of drawings illustrating the song, "The Greatest Man I Never Knew", by Reba McIntire. The drawing of the figure emerging from a seed depicts a theme of personal growth from Henry David Thoreau's "Walden Pond". Other stories that have inspired her art are: "The Rabbits of Watership Down", "A Girl of the Limberlost" by Gene Stratton Porter, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", and "The Tell Tale Heart".
On travels with her husband throughout the year, Rebecca carries a sketchbook which allows her to create a special and personal souvenir of the trip and sketches that may someday become a painting.
Images of flowers and birds, most especially the intricate detail on the petal of a flower or the feather of a bird become both inspirational and a challenge to recreate for Becky. She enjoys capturing the beauty of birds remembered from growing up on a farm, the red-winged blackbird, the meadowlark, junco and a bluebird family. She is fascinated by their diversity, color and behavior.
Becky works within strict guidelines and tight deadlines as a graphic designer. Her personal drawing and painting allow her more freedom in the use of oils, watercolors, and colored pencils in Fine Art themes. The Fine Arts are her first love, though she does enjoy creating brochures or ads that communicate the essence of a business or organization. On occasion Becky has fun combining both graphic design and fine art in a single project.
TIPPECANOE COUNTY ARTISTS TRI-BECCA: Rebecca Longster
This Tippecanoe artist, Rebecca Longster is a writer, teacher and lover of words. That last comes in handy, as she teaches a variety of writing and literature classes in the Department of English at Purdue and for Purdue Statewide Technology. She is a recent graduate of the Stonecoast Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program through the University of Southern Maine, where she majored in Popular Fiction, and in late 2006, she started a local writers group for writers of genre or popular fiction in Indiana. This Rebecca finds it relaxing to express her creativity through visual art as well as through writing. She enjoys working in pencil, pastels, acrylics, and water colors, and is particularly interested in portraiture, unique places, and natural landscapes.
TIPPECANOE COUNTY ARTISTS TRI-BECCA: Rebecca Peters
This third Tippecanoe County Tri-Becca is a children's counselor and has been involved in art since she was old enough to hold a crayon. Her Dad still has a picture she drew when she was 5 years old. For the last few years she's been taking art classes from Betty Goodrich at the Morton Center in Lafayette. Rebecca has been a member of the Wabash Artist Alliance for the last three years. She enjoys all types of subject matter, working with pastels and more recently, acrylics. Rebecca finds her art a relaxing endeavor after her professional work as a child therapist for a local community mental health agency.
We hope you have warmed your body and soul with the beauty of nature's indoor wonders as interpreted by each of our FIVE ARTISTS CELEBRATING THE SEASON. Your tracks will be warmer now in the crispy, crunchy winter wonderland. Do come often and stay long!
Written by Diane Hammill
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Genealogy Club: Social and Reorganization Meeting
Genealogy Club of Montgomery County, Ind Corp SOCIAL AND REORGANIZATION MEETING FINISH UP, Tuesday, 11 DECEMBER 2007, 6:30 p.m. for the executive committee, 7:00 p.m. for the regular meeting, in the Community Room-A of the Crawfordsville District Public Library. For More Information, contact: Ph: 765-362-2242 Weekdays: 9 am-5 pm Dian Moore, Local History Librarian (Ex 4) or Dellie Craig (Ex 118). E-mail: gen@cdpl.lib.in.us
BRING FINGER SNACKS TO SHARE. Visitors Welcome!
BRING FINGER SNACKS TO SHARE. Visitors Welcome!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Preview Shelf -- Holiday Reading Offers New Ideas
The Christmas story "Finding Noel" by Richard Evans about how people come into our lives for a reason is a love story about two young people from different worlds. It and other seasonal stories are new at the Crawfordsville District Public Library. Anne Perry's "A Christmas Secret" is her 4th novel of the season revealing deadly danger to a visiting vicar and his wife who'd hoped to have a lovely getaway among new parishioners. Thomas Kinkade and Katherine Spencer's "A Christmas to Remember" is the eighth Cape Light Novel; a curmudgeon confined to bed lets her thoughts drift back to the holiday season of 1955, when she met her dashing husband, and when she made some mistakes. M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin mystery "Kissing Christmas Goodbye" finds our detective looking forward to the upcoming festivities and hoping to rekindle the object of her affections, but she gets sidetracked to help a wealthy widow who fears for her life. In Joanne Fluke's "Candy Cane Murder" a bakery owner must solve the murder of Kris Kringle as the holiday gala is eminent. This season brings ideas for different foods. "The Latin American Kitchen" by Elisabeth Luard tells about essential ingredients with over 200 authentic recipes (with beautiful photos). "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen" displays Donna Klein's meat-free, dairy-free dishes from "the healthiest region under the sun". "The Pressure Cooker Cookbook" is designed to make cooking a pleasure offering 250 recipes for all types of slow cookers. James Halliday & Hugh Johnson's "The Art and Science of Wine" explains places, equipment, climate, and all the ingredients required for different products, along with the latest developments in the industry. If you give gifts, "Wrap It Up" has Sally Walton's 50 creative and stylish gift-wrap ideas and their processes. "The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music" edited by Tony Byworth shows how this music has constantly grown and developed from the first tunes brought to the New World by British and European settlers. Architecture of the Air" means sound, light and interactive technology used for public works involving spectators, by Christopher Janney, who has won many awards; examples are the sounds of certain runways, the special steamboat monument from 2002 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Sonic Plaza 1997 at East Carolina University in Greenville, N. C. Three craft books are Kathryn Berenson's "Quilts of Provence" about French quiltmaking, "Afghans Tradional and Modern" by Bonita Bray, and "Two-Hour Scrap Crafts" by Anita Crane, all stunning visual and detailed artworks illustrated with their historical significance. "Through Deaf Eyes" is a photographic history of the American community from archives at Gallaudet University, using 200 photographs examining historical eras through a deaf lens. "Way of the Peaceful Warrior" is touted as a book that changes lives, now a major motion picture, written by Dan Millman. It features a champion athlete/college student looking for what's missing in his life; he meets Socrates, and begins a spiritual odyssey into challenging confrontations speaking to the peaceful warrior in each of us. "The Buried Book" by David Damrosch is a riveting story of the first great epic composed in Babylonia more than 3,000 years ago, telling of one hero's travels in search of immortality. Lost to the world for 2,500 years and rediscovered in the 19th century, the story features daring adventurers, fearless explorers, ancient kings, goddesses and gods.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Preview Shelf -- Ready for Thanksgiving; Remembering Halloween
About two weeks ago, 65 children gathered at the Crawfordsville District Public Library to celebrate Halloween. The Youth Services Department set up bowling for the costumed youngsters with cobs of corn in cups for pins and a pumpkin for the ball. While enjoying brew, "spider legs", and pumpkin morsels, they also heard stories, played "pin the nose on a jack o'lantern", and threw velcro'd balls at a worm in an apple. Squeals accompanied the fun. You can sign up for special events by calling 362-2242. The book "Savage Kingdom" appeals during Thanksgiving season because it is the "true" story of Jamestown, 1607, and the settlement of America. Benjamin Woolley draws on new discoveries, neglected sources, and manuscript collections to reveal the daring enterprise by outcasts of the Old World facing a new culture both ravishing and alien that they had hoped not to face here. This was 14 years before the Mayflower voyage. "For Liberty and Glory" is James Gaines' new book about Washington, Lafayette, and their revolutions. Inside the cover is "They began as courtiers in a hierarchy of privilege, but history remembers them as patriot-citizens in a commonwealth of equals." The book deals with the "sister revolutions" of France and America in a single narrative. "Markings" by Dag Hammarskhjold is a testament of personal devotion by the known peacemaker with his intense recorded inner life of efforts to live his creed, his belief that all men are equally the children of God requiring him to have a life of selfless service to others. "Chasing Life" by Sanjay Gupta offers new ideas from around the world, and sensible decisions for better days. "The Gaslight Effect" holds Robin Stern's instructions to stop letting other people manipulate your thinking and/or your life. Betty Rollin's "Here's the Bright Side" is about the "silver linings in clouds", a funny book about surprising upsides to challenging "low blows". Tony Campolo's "Letters to a Young Evangelical" argues against politically polarized and predominantly secular living. "Think" by Michael LeGault slows us down because he says crucial decisions can't be made in the blink of an eye. Bill Clinton's "Giving" shows how companies, organizations, and individuals are working to solve problems "down the street and around the world" told through the experiences of all kinds of people in different places. "Away" by Amy Bloom tells about a young innocent lady whose family is destroyed in a Russian pogrom, so she comes alone to America, and travels all around the country looking for a daughter who may still be alive. "Frank Lloyd Wright, a Gatefold Portfolio" contains 32 pull-out pages showing 16 of his special home designs like Falling Water, Wingspread, the Guggenheim Museum and the Beth Shalom synagogue, a full evening's entertainment. Leonard Susskind's "The Cosmic Landscape" explains his thoughts about string theory and the illusion of intelligent design. Thorsten Milse's photographs about "Little Polar Bears" from the Wapusk National Park west of Hudson Bay illustrate the protection of the animals while still allowing for controlled visits to the area. "Voyage of the Turtle" by Carl Safina is a pursuit of the earth's last dinosaur. "The Planets" by Dava Sobel divulges her impressive ability to make difficult scientific concepts into compelling explanations of our place in the universe (she wrote "Longitude" and "Galileo's Daughter").
Monday, November 05, 2007
Are You Ready to Enjoy Indiana Art at Its Best?
It is our great pleasure to warmly welcome the 83rd Annual Hoosier Salon Traveling Exhibition, Indiana Art at Its Best to the Library's Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery from Monday, November 5 until Friday, November 30, 2007.The varied works chosen by this year's jurors, Ann Piper, Associate professor of Painting and Drawing at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas and Scott Wolniak, studio art teacher in various media at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago, brings an especially eclectic and diversified scope of art to our gallery.
Each year since 1925, artist members of the Hoosier Salon Patrons Association bring their newest and finest works to stand the test of expert jurors. In its 18th year at the Indiana State Museum, there were 586 entrys presented to the jury. Of these, 174 pieces by 142 artist members were juried into the show. Prizes of nearly $30,000 were awarded for excellence.
To belong to the Salon an artist must be a current Indiana resident and dues-paying member, or have lived in the state for at least one year. A member of the Salon may enter up to three pieces of art each year to be juried.
From September through January, 150 of these pieces are divided into five tour groupings that travel to 34 different venues throughout the state.
Each artist speaks clearly in his or her own unique voice. Artists chosen for our venue include: Mason Archie, Eleanor K. Brewer, John Charles Brooks, Tom Butters, Gayle Coyle, Dick Davis, Mark Dillman, Robert Eberle, Carol Fisher, Jennifer Hughes, Carol Moratti, John Oilar, J. Anna Roberts, Jerry Smith and Sharon Sommerville. What a delight to find three of "Montgomery County's Best" among Indiana's Best, included in our tour.
It is the Salon's hope that each of you find an artistic creation that brings you joy! Visitors may wish to purchase a piece that speaks to their heart to be included in their own private collections. Others may choose to incorporate the images into their mind's eye, to be played forward any time in the future. Whatever your choice, don't miss the opportunity to view INDIANA ART AT ITS BEST during the entire month of November. I promise you won't be sorry!
Are You Ready to Enjoy Indiana Art at Its Best?
It is our great pleasure to warmly welcome the 83rd Annual Hoosier Salon Traveling Exhibition, Indiana Art at Its Best to the Library's Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery from Monday, November 5 until Friday, November 30, 2007.The varied works chosen by this year's jurors, Ann Piper, Associate professor of Painting and Drawing at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas and Scott Wolniak, studio art teacher in various media at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago, brings an especially eclectic and diversified scope of art to our gallery.
Each year since 1925, artist members of the Hoosier Salon Patrons Association bring their newest and finest works to stand the test of expert jurors. In its 18th year at the Indiana State Museum, there were 586 entrys presented to the jury. Of these, 174 pieces by 142 artist members were juried into the show. Prizes of nearly $30,000 were awarded for excellence.
To belong to the Salon an artist must be a current Indiana resident and dues-paying member, or have lived in the state for at least one year. A member of the Salon may enter up to three pieces of art each year to be juried.
From September through January, 150 of these pieces are divided into five tour groupings that travel to 34 different venues throughout the state.
Each artist speaks clearly in his or her own unique voice. Artists chosen for our venue include: Mason Archie, Eleanor K. Brewer, John Charles Brooks, Tom Butters, Gayle Coyle, Dick Davis, Mark Dillman, Robert Eberle, Carol Fisher, Jennifer Hughes, Carol Moratti, John Oilar, J. Anna Roberts, Jerry Smith and Sharon Sommerville. What a delight to find three of "Montgomery County's Best" among Indiana's Best, included in our tour.
It is the Salon's hope that each of you find an artistic creation that brings you joy! Visitors may wish to purchase a piece that speaks to their heart to be included in their own private collections. Others may choose to incorporate the images into their mind's eye, to be played forward any time in the future. Whatever your choice, don't miss the opportunity to view INDIANA ART AT ITS BEST during the entire month of November. I promise you won't be sorry!
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Preview Shelf -- Becoming Library Patrons
A recent episode attracts the question, "Why can we have the useful Crawfordsville District Public Library?" We can have our library because residents of Union Township pay library taxes, which afford them patron cards to use for all the services. Our county also has four outstanding outlying libraries in Darlington, Ladoga, Linden, and Waveland, affording their area taxpayers their services and, through CDPL cooperation, allowing them reciprocal cards to the Crawfordsville Library. This commitment by taxpayers is expensive and well worth the burdens of taxation. Thanks to our responsible taxpayers! Those who do not pay library taxes may buy annual cards. A yearly fee card for a family, covering all the Crawfordsville library services, amounts to $4.05 per month. Travel guides are fun to read even if we aren't contemplating a personal visit. New on the shelf are Rick Steves' "Great Britain 2007", "Europe Through the Back Door 2007" and "Best of Eastern Europe 2007" with good maps, information about museums, tours, transportation, and trip planning. Poetry comes from Anne Stevenson ("Poems 1955-2005") biographer of Sylvia Plath, winner of the Northern Rock Foundation Writer's Award 2002, and resident of Britain. John Betjeman's "Collected Poems" offer pleasure "as much to casual readers as to the literary establishment" (New York Times). Books about conflict appeal to writers as projects and to readers as history. "Kingfish' by Richard White, Jr. is about the "reign" of Louisiana Governor Huey Long whose story inspired the movie "All the King's Men". "Last Man Out" is Robert Charles' memoir of surviving the Burma-Thailand Death Railway (June 1942 to October 1943) through courage during unimaginable brutality while building the project immortalized in "Bridge Over the River Kwai". "Beyond Valor" is Patrick O'Donnell's story of World War II Rangers and Airborne veterans in the heart of combas told through 650 e-histories and interviews. (O'Donnell is the creator of The Drop Zone, the first online oral history project for WWII veterans.) "The Genome War" by James Shreave shows "the ups and downs of humanity's frantic quest for the Holy Grail of science" (Houston Chronicle). A new historical novel by Ken Follett called "World Without End" takes place in England in the 14th century, concerned with ambition, love, greed and revenge at the exquisite Gothic cathedral (built in "The Pillars of the Earth" by the same author). "Fellow Travelers" comes from Thomas Mallon about Washington, D.C. during the McCarthy era in the early 1950s. Robert Ludlum and Philip Shelby's "The Cassandra Compact" delves into the thinking of an under-cover Russian spy who is on the run, and the intricate plot expresses an attempt to steal Russia's store of smallpox virus. "The Septembers of Shiraz" by Dalia Sofer takes us to the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, when a rare-gem dealer is wrongly accused of being a spy and his wife goes to great lengths to help. Here comes Garrison Keillor with his newest novel of Lake Wobegon called "Pontoon"; his funny first episode is about the good lady who's prepared to die and wishes cremation and her ashes placed inside a bowling ball and dropped into the lake. It is a lake "as you've imagined it -- good loving people who drive each other slightly crazy". "Hartsburg, USA" by David Mizner offers an ideological turf war of opposites vying for a seat on the school board. "The Museum of Dr. Moxes" by Joyce Carol Oates contains ten stories about relations between women and men, children and parents, and strangers whose lives intersect.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Preview Shelf -- Halloween Calls For Mystery
Here is the latest arrival of books requested by patrons. Over half are mysteries.
Perfect for Halloween. Find one about a place that interests you by authors who make plots come alive. "Justice Denied" by J. A. Jance is an A.J.P. Beaumont story that begins with what looks like just another case of turf warfare in Seattle. In "Dry Ice" by Stephen White a determined murderer who has left the Colorado State Mental Hospital returns with psychological page-turner terror. "Sweet Revenge" by Diane Davidson has a chocolate cupcake on the cover because the plot begins at a catered holiday feast for the staff of the Aspen Meadow Library. "The Tenderness of Wolves" is a 2006 Costa (formerly Whitbread) Book of the Year winner by Stef Penney set in 1867 in a Northern Canada Territory settlement. Elizabeth Lowell's "Innocent as Sin" identifies a private banker in Arizona who while painting landscapes in the Pacific Northwest is accused of a shocking crime. "My Summer of Southern Discomfort" by Stephanie Gayle finds a recent Harvard Law graduate working in Macon, Georgia, where she welcomes a new experience. "In the Woods" by Tana French is a psychological suspense story set in a Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984. "Play Dirty" by Sandra Brown involves a secret agreement between a Cowboys quarterback just released from prison and a golden couple owning a Texas airline. "Invisible Prey" by John Sandford opens in the richest neighborhood of Minneapolis where two elderly women lie murdered in their home. "Citizen Vince" by Jess Waltere paints early November of 1980 just before Ronald Reagan's victory over Jimmy Carter; from Spokane, Washington east to New York City, the story moves with dark humor as a charming crook chases his second chance. "The Good Husband of Zebra Drive" is Alexander Smith's new novel in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series in Botswana with a few tricky cases, a series of deaths, and pertinent office supplies missing from a local printing company. "Vineyard Stalker" by Philip Craig takes us to the "Martha" island where there is pressure to sell precious real estate, and a body turns up nearby complicating property disputes. James Benn's "The First Wave" is a Billy Doyle World War II mystery when in November 1942 Eisenhower's personal investigator goes to shore with the first troops at Beer Green Beach near Algiers. By contrast "Ham Bones" is Carolyn Haines' Southern Belle Mystery about Broadway coming to the Delta and how the star's lipstick is laced with cyanide. "The Night Ferry" by Michael Robotham involves a London neighborhood and a high school reunion that leads to a terrible crime and to action in Amsterdam. "The Broken Shore" by Peter Temple shows us a big-city detective posted in a quiet town on the South Australian coast and a crime blamed on three aboriginal boys. Here are other fiction requests. In "Her Royal Spyness" Rhys Bowen turns her attention to mischief by stylish minor English royalty circa 1930. "The Bourne Betrayal" by Eric Van Lustbader again features the rogue secret agent who has lost his memory, this time learning that his last friend in the world has gone missing after having been seen in Ethiopia tracking shipments of atomic bomb weaponry. To mention briefly a few more requests, try "The Maytrees" by Annie Dillard, "The Penny" by Joyce Meyer, "Sheer Abandon" by Penny Vincenzi, Fern Michaels' "Up Cose and Personal", Johanna Lindsey's "The Devil Who Tamed Her" and Linda Miller's Stone Creek novel "A Wanted Man".
Perfect for Halloween. Find one about a place that interests you by authors who make plots come alive. "Justice Denied" by J. A. Jance is an A.J.P. Beaumont story that begins with what looks like just another case of turf warfare in Seattle. In "Dry Ice" by Stephen White a determined murderer who has left the Colorado State Mental Hospital returns with psychological page-turner terror. "Sweet Revenge" by Diane Davidson has a chocolate cupcake on the cover because the plot begins at a catered holiday feast for the staff of the Aspen Meadow Library. "The Tenderness of Wolves" is a 2006 Costa (formerly Whitbread) Book of the Year winner by Stef Penney set in 1867 in a Northern Canada Territory settlement. Elizabeth Lowell's "Innocent as Sin" identifies a private banker in Arizona who while painting landscapes in the Pacific Northwest is accused of a shocking crime. "My Summer of Southern Discomfort" by Stephanie Gayle finds a recent Harvard Law graduate working in Macon, Georgia, where she welcomes a new experience. "In the Woods" by Tana French is a psychological suspense story set in a Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984. "Play Dirty" by Sandra Brown involves a secret agreement between a Cowboys quarterback just released from prison and a golden couple owning a Texas airline. "Invisible Prey" by John Sandford opens in the richest neighborhood of Minneapolis where two elderly women lie murdered in their home. "Citizen Vince" by Jess Waltere paints early November of 1980 just before Ronald Reagan's victory over Jimmy Carter; from Spokane, Washington east to New York City, the story moves with dark humor as a charming crook chases his second chance. "The Good Husband of Zebra Drive" is Alexander Smith's new novel in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series in Botswana with a few tricky cases, a series of deaths, and pertinent office supplies missing from a local printing company. "Vineyard Stalker" by Philip Craig takes us to the "Martha" island where there is pressure to sell precious real estate, and a body turns up nearby complicating property disputes. James Benn's "The First Wave" is a Billy Doyle World War II mystery when in November 1942 Eisenhower's personal investigator goes to shore with the first troops at Beer Green Beach near Algiers. By contrast "Ham Bones" is Carolyn Haines' Southern Belle Mystery about Broadway coming to the Delta and how the star's lipstick is laced with cyanide. "The Night Ferry" by Michael Robotham involves a London neighborhood and a high school reunion that leads to a terrible crime and to action in Amsterdam. "The Broken Shore" by Peter Temple shows us a big-city detective posted in a quiet town on the South Australian coast and a crime blamed on three aboriginal boys. Here are other fiction requests. In "Her Royal Spyness" Rhys Bowen turns her attention to mischief by stylish minor English royalty circa 1930. "The Bourne Betrayal" by Eric Van Lustbader again features the rogue secret agent who has lost his memory, this time learning that his last friend in the world has gone missing after having been seen in Ethiopia tracking shipments of atomic bomb weaponry. To mention briefly a few more requests, try "The Maytrees" by Annie Dillard, "The Penny" by Joyce Meyer, "Sheer Abandon" by Penny Vincenzi, Fern Michaels' "Up Cose and Personal", Johanna Lindsey's "The Devil Who Tamed Her" and Linda Miller's Stone Creek novel "A Wanted Man".
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Preview Shelf: Keeping Up With the Demand
The Crawfordsville District Public Library staff carefully buys new books, including those requested by readers. Often, patrons fill out request cards clipped to good reviews about useful reading. Just arrived Tony Dungy's "Quite Strength" giving his principles, practices, and priorities of a winning life is already wait-listed by football fans. "The New American Story" comes from Bill Bradley who believes that we are at a teachable moment, and he proposes things every American can do to shape our nation's future. "Modern Liberty and the Limits of Government" by Charles Fried is a meditation on the fate of traditional concepts of liberty in the modern welfare state. "A Brief History of Science" edited by John Gribbin divides its text into chaos & order, energy & motion, space & time, the nature of matter, the dynamic earth, and the pulse of life; it resembles a short colorful encyclopedia. "African American Dance: An Illustrated History" by Barbara Glass follows the dynamics of these dance forms throughout each generation. "The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang" was put together by Leonard Maltin amd Rocjard Bamm. "The Best
American Travel Writing 2006" edited by Tim Cahill includes essays about the Grand Canyon, downhill skiing in South Korea, the charms of Zurich, and an acquaintance with a French passenger plane manufacturer. "Truck: A Love Story" by Michael Perry actually recounts a year in which the author struggles to grow his own food, live peaceably with neighbors, and sort out his love life. A single experience walking out of the shadows of abuse is "Ama, Your Story is Mine" by Ercenia Cedeno. "The Grand Ole Opry" by Colin Escott gives the over-80-year-old history of that American icon. Two new travel guides are Fodor's "New Orleans 2007" and Lonely Planet's "Mexico".
New books about war struggles are Alex Keershaw's "The Few" about the American nights of the Air who risked everything to fight in the Battle of Britain (World War II). "Surviving the Sword" is Brian MacArthur's tribute to prisoners of the Japanese in the Far East from 1942-1945. "First into Nagasaki" by George Weller contains censored eyewitness dispatches on post-atomic Japan and its prisoners of war (1945). "A Deserter's Tale" is the story by Joshua Key, an ordinary soldier who walked away from the war in Iraq. Navy doctor Richard Jadick's Iraq war story is "On Call". Practical guides "Practical Pole Building Construction" by Leigh Seddon and "Water Gardens 1-2-3" come from The Home Depot. Jeanne Martinet saves us from embarrassment in "The Art of Mingling". "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Computer Basics" is by Joe Kraynak. Secrets to getting and keeping the joy you really want are found in Ron and Caryl Krannich's "The Blue-Collar Resume and Job Hunting Guide". "The Comfort of Home" by Maria Meyer is a guide for caregivers who work in patients' homes. "Keep Them on Your Side" by Samuel Bacharach shows how to lead and manage people and organizations to accomplish momentum. Elizabeth Pantley tells of gentle ways to encourage children's good behavior without whining, tantrums, and tears in "The No-Cry Discipline Solution". "Black & White" by Dani Shapiro is a novel about art, fame, ambition, and family that asks: Is it possible for a mother to be true to herself and true to her children at the same time?"
American Travel Writing 2006" edited by Tim Cahill includes essays about the Grand Canyon, downhill skiing in South Korea, the charms of Zurich, and an acquaintance with a French passenger plane manufacturer. "Truck: A Love Story" by Michael Perry actually recounts a year in which the author struggles to grow his own food, live peaceably with neighbors, and sort out his love life. A single experience walking out of the shadows of abuse is "Ama, Your Story is Mine" by Ercenia Cedeno. "The Grand Ole Opry" by Colin Escott gives the over-80-year-old history of that American icon. Two new travel guides are Fodor's "New Orleans 2007" and Lonely Planet's "Mexico".
New books about war struggles are Alex Keershaw's "The Few" about the American nights of the Air who risked everything to fight in the Battle of Britain (World War II). "Surviving the Sword" is Brian MacArthur's tribute to prisoners of the Japanese in the Far East from 1942-1945. "First into Nagasaki" by George Weller contains censored eyewitness dispatches on post-atomic Japan and its prisoners of war (1945). "A Deserter's Tale" is the story by Joshua Key, an ordinary soldier who walked away from the war in Iraq. Navy doctor Richard Jadick's Iraq war story is "On Call". Practical guides "Practical Pole Building Construction" by Leigh Seddon and "Water Gardens 1-2-3" come from The Home Depot. Jeanne Martinet saves us from embarrassment in "The Art of Mingling". "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Computer Basics" is by Joe Kraynak. Secrets to getting and keeping the joy you really want are found in Ron and Caryl Krannich's "The Blue-Collar Resume and Job Hunting Guide". "The Comfort of Home" by Maria Meyer is a guide for caregivers who work in patients' homes. "Keep Them on Your Side" by Samuel Bacharach shows how to lead and manage people and organizations to accomplish momentum. Elizabeth Pantley tells of gentle ways to encourage children's good behavior without whining, tantrums, and tears in "The No-Cry Discipline Solution". "Black & White" by Dani Shapiro is a novel about art, fame, ambition, and family that asks: Is it possible for a mother to be true to herself and true to her children at the same time?"
Monday, October 01, 2007
Celebrate Oktoberfest Exhibits at CDPL Art Gallery!
In the blaze of October's pumpkin sun, a whimsical ballet of frisky falling leaves begins. Radiantly colored leaves swirl, pirouette and gracefully dance on the breath of a breeze before landing on cool damp grass and warm white sidewalks, awaiting the crunch of happy-feet to grind them into fodder for next spring's avalanche of colorful blooms.
So too, under the warm haze of October's harvest moon, a whimsical ballet of WINSOME WATERCOLORS by Rena Brouwer, GLASS: AS HOT AS IT GETS by Lisa Pelo-McNeice and a FUNKY FALL FABRIC CHALLENGE by quilt artists Toshie Kazahaya, Sara Kleihauer, Marilyn Maddux and Jan Sieferman shout for joy in the Library's Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery.
Watercolor artist Rena Brouwer lives in the midst of a luscious wildlife haven in rural Carroll County Indiana. The environmental inspiration for her paintings is clearly evident in her delicately detailed watercolor depictions of the fauna and creatures she observes.
Rena's distinctive style is an interesting combination of realism, impressionism and abstraction. Always struggling to categorize her work in traditional terms, Rena asked international juror Robert Genn to define her work. After much thought he said, "It is Rena Brower."
Her Artist's Statement reads: "The imagery in my work springs from the history to which I belong. A part of a legacy that we each leave behind. Painting is a means for me to explore the recesses of memories from yesterday and the expressions of the 'todays'. The fluid freedom of watercolor breathes life into my creative journey."
Rena's collaborative nature has brought her opportunities to work locally, nationally and internationally through the arts.
In 2006, Rena was one of ten artists juried from a select group of 150 artists to represent Indiana in a project titled "Preserving Nature".
In recent years she has limited her teaching to community grants for schools and public venues that reach out to children and those at risk. As an instructor at Morton Community Center for 15 years, she offers public classes at the West Lafayette facility.
She has served on numerous arts boards. Her work has received recognition through awards from the Hoosier Salon, Watercolor Society of Indiana, Indiana Artists Club and various juried shows. She is also a member of the Brown County Guild, Nashville, Indiana.
Co-owner and founder of the Lafayette Renaissance Academy, Rena is the Gallery Director of the company. Her studio/gallery is located in the Lafayette Renaissance Academy. She may be reached at www.lafayetterenaissanceacademy.org.
Blown glass artist, Lisa Pelo-McNeice, owns Hot Blown Glass, Ltd. at 3717 S. County Road, 200 E, Clayton, Indiana. It is here, and at the glass studio of the Indianapolis Art Center, that she creates her one-of-a-kind eclectic glass pieces ranging in size from small and delicate to large and complex. To create her work, Lisa uses both a Hot and Cold Glass studio.
She has been the Glass Studio Department Head and Faculty Instructor in Glassblowing since 1998 at the Indianapolis Art Center. In 2000, she added Art Gallery Manager of Plainfield-Guilford Township's Public Library Gallery in Plainfield Indiana to her agenda.
Lisa strives to make a complete visual statement both in the skill needed to achieve the glass form and in the complementary color and styling enhancements of the form. She chooses glass as a medium or means to express glass, with glass, about glass. Within that equation -- her personality equals the glass. This makes for timeless study and the knowledge that there is always more to learn about glass, and about herself.
For her art glass, Lisa insists that it be identifiably unique in color and form. There would be no point in creating glass art that replicates anything created by any other glass artist. "And why would any artist want to do that anyway"? she asks.
In 1988, Lisa graduated cum Laude from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Specializing in Glass and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, in Creative Writing. This distinguished student spent 1986 in a European Study Program in Seville, Spain and belongs to the Golden Key National Honor Society. She has received many honors for both her art and her writing. Impressive!
Quilt artists Toshie Kazahaya, Sara Kleihauer, Marilyn Maddux and Jan Sieferman chose FUNKY FALL FABRIC CHALLENGE as the title for their exhibit. "Brown & white challenge fabric" was pulled from a rag bag at a quilt bee last spring. At its unveiling quilters present burst out laughing, thinking there was no way that ugly fabric could be used to make a thing of beauty! Never say never!
An exceptionally creative quilt bee member saw the fabric's potential. She brought the fabric home. She called three quilters, not present at the bee and asked them to use the fabric in a quilt, sight unseen. The three accepted and secretly created their challenge piece without the others seeing it. Weren't they brave? Or were they foolish?
The challenge read: Create a small quilt. Use fabric provided for at least one fourth of the quilt. Add "some" red. That was it! The challenge was worded loosely enough that "small" could be interpreted in any way the quilter wanted, as could "Red"!
A glance at the northwest wall of the gallery will bring forth gasps of unbelievable pleasure as you observe how each quilter interpreted their Funky Fall Fabric Challenge! Wouldn't you love to tap into their imaginations and see what falls out???
Don't let the chill of October keep you from the warm comfy exhibits presented, or the ghouly ghosts of October will come and get you.
So too, under the warm haze of October's harvest moon, a whimsical ballet of WINSOME WATERCOLORS by Rena Brouwer, GLASS: AS HOT AS IT GETS by Lisa Pelo-McNeice and a FUNKY FALL FABRIC CHALLENGE by quilt artists Toshie Kazahaya, Sara Kleihauer, Marilyn Maddux and Jan Sieferman shout for joy in the Library's Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery.
Watercolor artist Rena Brouwer lives in the midst of a luscious wildlife haven in rural Carroll County Indiana. The environmental inspiration for her paintings is clearly evident in her delicately detailed watercolor depictions of the fauna and creatures she observes. Rena's distinctive style is an interesting combination of realism, impressionism and abstraction. Always struggling to categorize her work in traditional terms, Rena asked international juror Robert Genn to define her work. After much thought he said, "It is Rena Brower."
Her Artist's Statement reads: "The imagery in my work springs from the history to which I belong. A part of a legacy that we each leave behind. Painting is a means for me to explore the recesses of memories from yesterday and the expressions of the 'todays'. The fluid freedom of watercolor breathes life into my creative journey."
Rena's collaborative nature has brought her opportunities to work locally, nationally and internationally through the arts.
In 2006, Rena was one of ten artists juried from a select group of 150 artists to represent Indiana in a project titled "Preserving Nature".
In recent years she has limited her teaching to community grants for schools and public venues that reach out to children and those at risk. As an instructor at Morton Community Center for 15 years, she offers public classes at the West Lafayette facility.
She has served on numerous arts boards. Her work has received recognition through awards from the Hoosier Salon, Watercolor Society of Indiana, Indiana Artists Club and various juried shows. She is also a member of the Brown County Guild, Nashville, Indiana.
Co-owner and founder of the Lafayette Renaissance Academy, Rena is the Gallery Director of the company. Her studio/gallery is located in the Lafayette Renaissance Academy. She may be reached at www.lafayetterenaissanceacademy.org.
Blown glass artist, Lisa Pelo-McNeice, owns Hot Blown Glass, Ltd. at 3717 S. County Road, 200 E, Clayton, Indiana. It is here, and at the glass studio of the Indianapolis Art Center, that she creates her one-of-a-kind eclectic glass pieces ranging in size from small and delicate to large and complex. To create her work, Lisa uses both a Hot and Cold Glass studio.
She has been the Glass Studio Department Head and Faculty Instructor in Glassblowing since 1998 at the Indianapolis Art Center. In 2000, she added Art Gallery Manager of Plainfield-Guilford Township's Public Library Gallery in Plainfield Indiana to her agenda.
Lisa strives to make a complete visual statement both in the skill needed to achieve the glass form and in the complementary color and styling enhancements of the form. She chooses glass as a medium or means to express glass, with glass, about glass. Within that equation -- her personality equals the glass. This makes for timeless study and the knowledge that there is always more to learn about glass, and about herself.
For her art glass, Lisa insists that it be identifiably unique in color and form. There would be no point in creating glass art that replicates anything created by any other glass artist. "And why would any artist want to do that anyway"? she asks.
In 1988, Lisa graduated cum Laude from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Specializing in Glass and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, in Creative Writing. This distinguished student spent 1986 in a European Study Program in Seville, Spain and belongs to the Golden Key National Honor Society. She has received many honors for both her art and her writing. Impressive!
Quilt artists Toshie Kazahaya, Sara Kleihauer, Marilyn Maddux and Jan Sieferman chose FUNKY FALL FABRIC CHALLENGE as the title for their exhibit. "Brown & white challenge fabric" was pulled from a rag bag at a quilt bee last spring. At its unveiling quilters present burst out laughing, thinking there was no way that ugly fabric could be used to make a thing of beauty! Never say never!
An exceptionally creative quilt bee member saw the fabric's potential. She brought the fabric home. She called three quilters, not present at the bee and asked them to use the fabric in a quilt, sight unseen. The three accepted and secretly created their challenge piece without the others seeing it. Weren't they brave? Or were they foolish?
The challenge read: Create a small quilt. Use fabric provided for at least one fourth of the quilt. Add "some" red. That was it! The challenge was worded loosely enough that "small" could be interpreted in any way the quilter wanted, as could "Red"!
A glance at the northwest wall of the gallery will bring forth gasps of unbelievable pleasure as you observe how each quilter interpreted their Funky Fall Fabric Challenge! Wouldn't you love to tap into their imaginations and see what falls out???
Don't let the chill of October keep you from the warm comfy exhibits presented, or the ghouly ghosts of October will come and get you.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Public Internet Computers: new log on procedure
PC Timer: The Crawfordsville District Public Library is using a log on system for the Internet computers on all floors. Each person is allowed 1 hour per day, but you may get to extend your time if all computers are not occupied (your computer will give you the option to extend when you have 5 minutes remaining in a session). You may log on for as many sessions as you wish per day until your maximum time is reached. There are two ways you can log on:
1) with your library card number + PIN (you are allowed two extensions of 30 minutes apiece)
If you have forgotten your library card PIN, you must ask a staff member at the Circulation desk (1st floor) to reset it to a new PIN (the staff can't tell you what your old PIN was). If you lose your library card and want to replace it, there is a $1.00 charge.
2) with a guest number + PIN (you are allowed one extension of 15 minutes)
If you do not have a library card, you must obtain a guest number + PIN from a staff member at the Circulation Desk (1st floor) or the Reference Desk (2nd floor). The guest log on is valid for 3 months. If you lose your guest number before it expires and want to replace it, there is a $1.00 charge for a new log on.
Express computers: The first-floor stand-up computers and the second-floor Local History computer allows 15 minutes for a session regardless of type of log on (no extensions).
NOTE: After a session is over, the computer will reboot and erase all changes. If you are working on a document (Word, Excel, etc.), it will be lost unless you have saved it to one of your own devices (a diskette, a CD-R or CD-RW, or a flash drive) or have sent it to your own e-mail account.
1) with your library card number + PIN (you are allowed two extensions of 30 minutes apiece)
If you have forgotten your library card PIN, you must ask a staff member at the Circulation desk (1st floor) to reset it to a new PIN (the staff can't tell you what your old PIN was). If you lose your library card and want to replace it, there is a $1.00 charge.
2) with a guest number + PIN (you are allowed one extension of 15 minutes)
If you do not have a library card, you must obtain a guest number + PIN from a staff member at the Circulation Desk (1st floor) or the Reference Desk (2nd floor). The guest log on is valid for 3 months. If you lose your guest number before it expires and want to replace it, there is a $1.00 charge for a new log on.
Express computers: The first-floor stand-up computers and the second-floor Local History computer allows 15 minutes for a session regardless of type of log on (no extensions).
NOTE: After a session is over, the computer will reboot and erase all changes. If you are working on a document (Word, Excel, etc.), it will be lost unless you have saved it to one of your own devices (a diskette, a CD-R or CD-RW, or a flash drive) or have sent it to your own e-mail account.
Monday, September 24, 2007
New Library Catalog
The next time you use our online catalog -- at home or in the library (or wherever you are), you may notice a different look. For one thing, if you misspell or mistype a search term, the catalog will often be ready with a "Did You Mean?" suggestion or suggestions. In addition, when you click for more information about an item (reviews, summary, etc.), your computer will no longer have to open a pop-up window: the extra information simply appears under the item record itself. You can also go directly to any page of your search results (instead of having to go in order page after page), sort by relevance, get better "narrow your search" options, and so on. If you have not used the catalog recently, give it a try and tell us what you think.
catalog.cdpl.lib.in.us/polaris/Search/
catalog.cdpl.lib.in.us/polaris/Search/
Monday, September 17, 2007
Genealogy Programs
Annual Dinner
The Genealogy Club of Montgomery County, IN Corp will have its annual dinner and meeting on Tuesday, October 9, 2007. Dinner will be at 6:00 pm catered by Joey. The meeting will follow at 7:00 pm, both held in the Donnelly Room of the Crawfordsville District Public Library, 205 South Washington Street, Crawfordsville, IN 47933.
The program will be "Tippecanoe Battlefield: The Space Between" by Robert Campbell, Wabash student.
Reservations REQUIRED for the dinner. RSVP Before Tuesday Oct 2, 2007. Payment of $10.00 for the meal must be made by Monday, October 8, 2007 at the Library's Local History Department. Visitors always welcome. For more information Contact: Dian Moore or Dellie Craig at PH: (765)-362-2242 Ext 118 or 119 weekdays 9-5. Or Email: gen@cdpl.lib.in.us or delliejean@yahoo.com.
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After Hours
Genealogy Club of Montgomery County, IN Corp :"After Hours Genealogy Research" 5:00-9:00 pm, Friday, October 26, 2007. Pizza Supper & Research - no charge- donations accepted towards pizza
5:00 pm Pizza, Donnelly room, lower level
5:45 pm Research in local history and reference area, 2nd floor
9:00 final closing
Advanced arrival (Before 5:00 pm) is required. Visitors welcome. Please confirm your expected attendance by Wednesday, Oct 24th to 765-362-2242, Ext 118 or 119. Or Email: gen@cdpl.lib.in.us or delliejean@yahoo.com.
The Genealogy Club of Montgomery County, IN Corp will have its annual dinner and meeting on Tuesday, October 9, 2007. Dinner will be at 6:00 pm catered by Joey. The meeting will follow at 7:00 pm, both held in the Donnelly Room of the Crawfordsville District Public Library, 205 South Washington Street, Crawfordsville, IN 47933.
The program will be "Tippecanoe Battlefield: The Space Between" by Robert Campbell, Wabash student.
Reservations REQUIRED for the dinner. RSVP Before Tuesday Oct 2, 2007. Payment of $10.00 for the meal must be made by Monday, October 8, 2007 at the Library's Local History Department. Visitors always welcome. For more information Contact: Dian Moore or Dellie Craig at PH: (765)-362-2242 Ext 118 or 119 weekdays 9-5. Or Email: gen@cdpl.lib.in.us or delliejean@yahoo.com.
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After Hours
Genealogy Club of Montgomery County, IN Corp :"After Hours Genealogy Research" 5:00-9:00 pm, Friday, October 26, 2007. Pizza Supper & Research - no charge- donations accepted towards pizza
5:00 pm Pizza, Donnelly room, lower level
5:45 pm Research in local history and reference area, 2nd floor
9:00 final closing
Advanced arrival (Before 5:00 pm) is required. Visitors welcome. Please confirm your expected attendance by Wednesday, Oct 24th to 765-362-2242, Ext 118 or 119. Or Email: gen@cdpl.lib.in.us or delliejean@yahoo.com.
Museum Day at the Carnegie
Thursday, August 30, 2007
The Art of Libby & Katie Whipple
A paintbrush or charcoal is all they need: The Art of Libby & Katie Whipple
A colorfully autumnal visual experience awaits those who visit the Library's Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery during the month of September. In this Mother-Daughter Exhibit of mother Libby Whipple, an Avon, Indiana attorney, and daughter Katie Whipple, an Avon High School junior, will astound you. Their interpretive, intuitive, passionate depictions of people in charcoal and oil paint are simply amazing, as are their creators!
Having grown up around art and artists, Katie G. Whipple has been drawing and painting ever since she can remember. Fellow exhibitor and Mom, Libby Whipple, became Katie's painting teacher when Katie was very young. "Whatever Mom did", Katie says, "she did it right because I am completely hooked on art! I have found my passion and intend to integrate it into my life forever".
Katie has experimented with many different forms of art, but now focuses primarily on painting and drawing. Currently a junior at Avon High School, Katie crams as many art classes into her schedule as possible each year and tries to experience as much artistically as well. "Variety is very important", Katie says, "for it expands the inspiration base and teaches that ideas can come from anything or anywhere.
Her subject of choice, at present, is drawing or painting figures or portraits with charcoal or oil paint. She finds figures and portraits challenging and extremely fascinating at the same time. She believes she is able to express feelings and evoke emotions better through drawing and painting people than through objects.
Musicians and members of her favorite bands are often the subject of Katie's art, for their music is her inspiration. Emotions brought to the surface while listening to the beauty they create musically, inspires Katie to create that same beauty artistically in charcoal or oil paint.
Art in all forms is the focus of Katie's life. She loves to paint and hopes and plans to include art in her future, although she has no idea where she is going with it. After high school, Art School is on the agenda, anything more than that, changes weekly. With young exuberance, Katie explains how excited she is about her future and just hopes it will involve oil paint!
While growing up, Elizabeth "Libby" Givan Whipple's dad told her, "Most people can't do most things, so find what you can do and do it well." Libby took his advice and found her life's passion in her art. Thoroughly enjoying the process, she has discovered that when you love learning about something, with time, you naturally become better at it.
Libby began painting over twenty years ago while in law school. Today when people hear that she used to be an attorney, they are surprised because to them art and law seem very different. For Libby, however, the two fields share some very important similarities. Both require technical knowledge and even more importantly, the ability to communicate an idea.
With each painting Libby hopes to communicate an idea or feeling, which may be the innocence of childhood or, as evidenced by the beauty of a sunset, how magnificent our world is.
Artists who continue to inspire her include John Singer Sergeant, Cecilia Beaux, artist and philosopher Robert Henri, Alla Prima's author Richard Schmid and a young California artist, Jeremy Lipking. These artists have had a powerful impact on Libby and how she sees life. In studying their work, she is at once humbled and inspired to find her own voice, her own greatness.
In a special portrait of Katie, entitled To My Daughter, Libby tries to distill her philosophy of life and art. This painting was published in the January 2006 issue of International Artist magazine as a finalist in the magazine's portraits and figures competition. In the painting, Katie is reading a note written by her mother. The note states: "Embrace reason and all that naturally flows from it. Immerse yourself in knowledge. Believe in goodness, and allow that belief to manifest itself in action-giving back more than you take-seeking not to judge, but to understand". "The duo purpose of the painting and poem", Libby says, "is to celebrate the beauty of life and to keep on striving for her own greatness". In so doing, she hopes to inspire others to do the same and encourages all to celebrate their life and find their OWN greatness.
You will feel as though you have made new friends through art after enjoying this delightful FAMILY AFFAIR Exhibit at the CDPL Gallery. See you there!
A colorfully autumnal visual experience awaits those who visit the Library's Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery during the month of September. In this Mother-Daughter Exhibit of mother Libby Whipple, an Avon, Indiana attorney, and daughter Katie Whipple, an Avon High School junior, will astound you. Their interpretive, intuitive, passionate depictions of people in charcoal and oil paint are simply amazing, as are their creators!Having grown up around art and artists, Katie G. Whipple has been drawing and painting ever since she can remember. Fellow exhibitor and Mom, Libby Whipple, became Katie's painting teacher when Katie was very young. "Whatever Mom did", Katie says, "she did it right because I am completely hooked on art! I have found my passion and intend to integrate it into my life forever".
Katie has experimented with many different forms of art, but now focuses primarily on painting and drawing. Currently a junior at Avon High School, Katie crams as many art classes into her schedule as possible each year and tries to experience as much artistically as well. "Variety is very important", Katie says, "for it expands the inspiration base and teaches that ideas can come from anything or anywhere.
Her subject of choice, at present, is drawing or painting figures or portraits with charcoal or oil paint. She finds figures and portraits challenging and extremely fascinating at the same time. She believes she is able to express feelings and evoke emotions better through drawing and painting people than through objects.
Musicians and members of her favorite bands are often the subject of Katie's art, for their music is her inspiration. Emotions brought to the surface while listening to the beauty they create musically, inspires Katie to create that same beauty artistically in charcoal or oil paint.
Art in all forms is the focus of Katie's life. She loves to paint and hopes and plans to include art in her future, although she has no idea where she is going with it. After high school, Art School is on the agenda, anything more than that, changes weekly. With young exuberance, Katie explains how excited she is about her future and just hopes it will involve oil paint!
While growing up, Elizabeth "Libby" Givan Whipple's dad told her, "Most people can't do most things, so find what you can do and do it well." Libby took his advice and found her life's passion in her art. Thoroughly enjoying the process, she has discovered that when you love learning about something, with time, you naturally become better at it.Libby began painting over twenty years ago while in law school. Today when people hear that she used to be an attorney, they are surprised because to them art and law seem very different. For Libby, however, the two fields share some very important similarities. Both require technical knowledge and even more importantly, the ability to communicate an idea.
With each painting Libby hopes to communicate an idea or feeling, which may be the innocence of childhood or, as evidenced by the beauty of a sunset, how magnificent our world is.
Artists who continue to inspire her include John Singer Sergeant, Cecilia Beaux, artist and philosopher Robert Henri, Alla Prima's author Richard Schmid and a young California artist, Jeremy Lipking. These artists have had a powerful impact on Libby and how she sees life. In studying their work, she is at once humbled and inspired to find her own voice, her own greatness.
In a special portrait of Katie, entitled To My Daughter, Libby tries to distill her philosophy of life and art. This painting was published in the January 2006 issue of International Artist magazine as a finalist in the magazine's portraits and figures competition. In the painting, Katie is reading a note written by her mother. The note states: "Embrace reason and all that naturally flows from it. Immerse yourself in knowledge. Believe in goodness, and allow that belief to manifest itself in action-giving back more than you take-seeking not to judge, but to understand". "The duo purpose of the painting and poem", Libby says, "is to celebrate the beauty of life and to keep on striving for her own greatness". In so doing, she hopes to inspire others to do the same and encourages all to celebrate their life and find their OWN greatness.
You will feel as though you have made new friends through art after enjoying this delightful FAMILY AFFAIR Exhibit at the CDPL Gallery. See you there!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Price increase in photocopies and fines
Effective September 1, 2007, the library will institute an increase in two areas:
Photocopies currently at $.10 per page will increase to $.15 per page.
Overdue items charged at $.05 per page will increase to $.10 per page.
Photocopies currently at $.10 per page will increase to $.15 per page.
Overdue items charged at $.05 per page will increase to $.10 per page.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Genealogy Club meeting
The Genealogy Club of Montgomery County will meet at 7:00 PM on September 11, 2007. Our presentation is "What's In a Name?" by Peggy Reen, Tippecanoe County Genealogist and DAR member. We will be in the Donnelly Room (Lower Level). The public is invited! Call (765) 362-2242 Ext 4 or Ext 118 for more information.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Genealogy Club meeting: August 14th
Genealogy Club of Montgomery County: "A Night at the Museum"
7:00 PM
August 14, 2007
Meet at 7:00 PM in the new CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY for a tour. At 7:45 pm the business meeting and refreshments will be held at the Crawfordsville District Public Library, Lower Level in Donnelly Room. Public Invited. Call: (765)-362-2242, Ext 4 for more information!
7:00 PM
August 14, 2007
Meet at 7:00 PM in the new CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY for a tour. At 7:45 pm the business meeting and refreshments will be held at the Crawfordsville District Public Library, Lower Level in Donnelly Room. Public Invited. Call: (765)-362-2242, Ext 4 for more information!
Youth Services Summer program "thanks"
The Youth Services Department at the Crawfordsville District Public Library wants to send thanks out to all who helped with the summer reading program this year. We want to thank the businesses in town that donated coupons, movie rentals, and books. Thank you to Applebee's, Dairy Queen, Family Video, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Parks & Recreation Dept. and Random House. We also send out a GREAT big thanks to the Friends of the Library for funding the program. We couldn't do this without their generosity. We want to thank the staff at the library as well. Summer is always a busy time and their help was very much appreciated. And we want to thank the parents and children for coming in throughout the summer. Without them, there would be no need for a program.
Although the summer reading program has ended, we still have a lot to offer in the Youth Services area at the library. Through August, we have story times for babies on Mondays at 11:00; toddlers on Tuesdays at 10:00; and 3, 4, and 5 year olds on Thursdays at 11:00. We also have drop-in family story time every Tuesday evening at 6:45. On Saturday, August 25th, we will have a Game Day for elementary students at 2:30. Come relax, play games, and have a snack.
We will take a break from the above story times in September. However, we will have a new program for Tweens (ages 8-12) the second Monday at 3:45 and a program for Teens the third Monday at 3:45.
In October and November we will resume story times, have Tweens and Teens, and have a special Saturday event.
Please call 362-2242 ext. 115 for more details on programming or see what's happening on the website at cdpl.lib.in.us. Again, thank you to all who had a part in the summer reading program.
Although the summer reading program has ended, we still have a lot to offer in the Youth Services area at the library. Through August, we have story times for babies on Mondays at 11:00; toddlers on Tuesdays at 10:00; and 3, 4, and 5 year olds on Thursdays at 11:00. We also have drop-in family story time every Tuesday evening at 6:45. On Saturday, August 25th, we will have a Game Day for elementary students at 2:30. Come relax, play games, and have a snack.
We will take a break from the above story times in September. However, we will have a new program for Tweens (ages 8-12) the second Monday at 3:45 and a program for Teens the third Monday at 3:45.
In October and November we will resume story times, have Tweens and Teens, and have a special Saturday event.
Please call 362-2242 ext. 115 for more details on programming or see what's happening on the website at cdpl.lib.in.us. Again, thank you to all who had a part in the summer reading program.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
August Gallery exhibits
In the Public Library's cool Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery, you will find two unique and unusually expressive "Eye Candy Exhibits" to challenge your mind and fill your soul with a pleasant respite from the hot and humid dog days of August.
Dancing vivaciously from the Gallery Walls is the work of Ryan Irvin in the AGILITY DOCTRINE: A Series of Collages, Drawings, Etchings, Monoprints and Paintings created during his recent seven-week educational sojourn through Europe. Colorfully sparkling from behind the glass of the Gallery's Display Cases you will find the creative reed weaving artistry of Peggy Boyd and Judy Tulley in A TISKET A TASKET: Abundant Handmade Baskets.
Artist Ryan Irvin is currently an Indiana University Associate Instructor of graphic design working toward his MFA. In preparation for this exhibit, he spent a recent European Odyssey reading, sketching, observing, and participating in great conversations with many thoughtful and interesting people. Those ideas and conversations, everything from hierarchies to impermanence, nomadic spirituality to modern consumption, and current politics to the archetypes of Carl Jung are represented in his current work.
Much of Ryan's work was done at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, Italy, but many sketches and drawings were done in airplanes, restaurants, hotel rooms, bars, coffee shops, trains, parks and bathtubs, somewhere between Rome and London.
Ryan's exhibit title, THE AGILITY DOCTRINE, refers to a hypothetical philosophy of agility and fluidity among pre-historic humans. "With civilization comes the illusion of stability, which creates hierarchies and ultimately pathologies," Ryan says. "Religion and mysticism become coping mechanisms to find the desired stability, even if it exists only in our minds." Currently the world is experiencing a blowback from this need for stability (the antithesis of agility) in religious extremism, corruption and war. A bit of agility right now would be most welcome!
While some of the geometric design motifs in his work were inspired by Gothic Venetian architecture, many of the collage materials were found in trashcans and on the sidewalk. It is this merging of extremes that interests Ryan. A merging of chaos and control, progress and tradition, rationalism and hedonism, renaissance concepts and anti-aesthetic sensibilities, utopian optimism and end-of-the-world pessimism are the themes running through his work. Through contemplating these extremes, Ryan hopes that he and others will experience transformation, become more tolerant, and ultimately more agile.
Ryan was born in 1977 and grew up on a farm in rural Montgomery County. He graduated from Purdue University with a degree in graphic design and shortly thereafter moved to Boulder, Colorado where he worked as an art director and lead designer at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. His work has been exhibited in both group and solo shows in Boulder, Fort Collins and Denver. Ryan's artwork is in permanent collections from New York to Bali. Though schooled in graphic designer, Ryan's is interested in the overlap between emotion and ambiguity in art and shares these ideas through his designs.
Much of his subject matter is drawn from specific points in contemporary culture where new and old ideologies meet. "I'm always interested in the things that individuals are working on to become better people, whether it's being a better listener or not worrying so much," Ryan says. Although there does seem to be an underlying hint of social responsibility in his work, he avoids cliche by finding a balance between chaos and compositional control. His overall aesthetic is hard to pinpoint, though his love of outsider art and children's drawings combined with his experience in effectively simple graphics creates an interesting dichotomy of organic and geometric shapes. "I'm definitely influenced by contemporary design culture as well as the current global art scene, but most of my inspiration comes from the everyday -- overheard conversations, neighborhood birds, bathtubs, found objects, cornbread and friends," says Irvin.
Ryan currently resides in Bloomington, Indiana with his wife, three cats and some rats!
For their exhibit, A TISKET, A TASKET: Abundant Handmade Baskets, weaving artists Peggy Boyd and Judy Tulley challenged themselves to experiment in areas of Basketry they had not attempted before. The results are well worth their effort.
Both of these talented women have woven baskets for over twenty years and belong to the Sugar Creek Basket Guild. After having separate businesses for years, they merged their talents and opened A Tisket, A Tasket Basket Shop on the corner of Grant and Lafayette Avenues, where they offer basket weaving classes, basket supplies, basket kits, and hand woven baskets for sale.
Peggy and Judy enjoy teaching all levels of weaving to all ages of students. Teaching and promoting basket weaving is a great part of their love of basketry. The rewards of teaching others basic information, then encouraging them to expand their own creativity is very rewarding, as is the joy of teaching children. Several of their students have received Grand Champion status at local county 4-H events and at the State Fair.
Peggy Boyd received her BS and MS elementary education degrees from Indiana University and taught a variety of grades in the public and private sectors. Her first weaving experience came when a friend invited her to a Park and Recreation Department class on weaving. She immediately became HOOKED! A few years later, after developing enough skills and confidence, she began teaching family and friends. Within a short time, she began teaching formally, creating designs for and teaching basket weaving to many diverse individuals and groups both in Indiana and neighboring states.
In 2005, Peggy was selected to receive the Indiana Arts Commission's "Artist in Residence" award. This honor afforded Peggy the opportunity to demonstrate the art of basket weaving from a historical perspective, to an audience on the grounds of the Lew Wallace Study.
In her travels across the country, Peggy enjoys collecting unique baskets and learning the history of basket weaving, most especially about those produced by Native Americans. She tries to seek out skilled local artisans, learn their materials, styles, and weaving techniques and If possible weave with them. Peggy has had the privilege of weaving sweet grass baskets in South Carolina, Nantucket baskets in Massachusetts, white oak baskets in the Ozarks, porcupine quill baskets in Michigan, Chesapeake Bay goose decoys, Alaskan antler baskets, and fishing creels in Indiana.
When Peggy began weaving baskets just for fun many years ago, she had no idea her passion would lead her into a profession which she still has fun creating and teaching about these "little works of art."
Judy Tulley's interest in weaving baskets began when she and her soon-to-be-married daughter wanted the Maid of Honor, Bridesmaids, and Flower Girl to carry baskets filled with fresh flowers and found no baskets available. After numerous shopping sprees with no tangible results, mother and daughter looked at each other and said "We can do it!" Judy bought the book How to Weave Baskets, Book One and fearlessly began. She not only successfully created the wedding baskets, but found herself absolutely HOOKED on basket weaving! The more she wove the more addicted she became. Through the years Judy has expanded her interest and skills by taking workshops by well-known teachers in many states and countries. "To be able to do something every day that you absolutely love, and to do it with a friend, well, it just doesn't get any better than that," Judy says!
Retiring in 2002 as a Loan Officer for Union Federal Savings and Loan Association, after twenty-three years of service, Judy remains active in her church and belongs to the Kentucky Basket Association, Illinois Basket Association, The Association of Basket Weavers of North Carolina, and the Association of Michigan Basket Weavers. Along with her passion for basket weaving and teaching, Judy enjoys reading, redecorating their homes and boating and water skiing in the summer. A life long resident of Montgomery County, Judy is married to Richard Tulley.
Don't wait, come into the Library and enjoy these joyful exhibits. See you there.
Written for the Journal Review By Diane Hammill, Coordinator CDPL Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery, who may be reached at gallery@cdpl.lib.in.us
Dancing vivaciously from the Gallery Walls is the work of Ryan Irvin in the AGILITY DOCTRINE: A Series of Collages, Drawings, Etchings, Monoprints and Paintings created during his recent seven-week educational sojourn through Europe. Colorfully sparkling from behind the glass of the Gallery's Display Cases you will find the creative reed weaving artistry of Peggy Boyd and Judy Tulley in A TISKET A TASKET: Abundant Handmade Baskets.Artist Ryan Irvin is currently an Indiana University Associate Instructor of graphic design working toward his MFA. In preparation for this exhibit, he spent a recent European Odyssey reading, sketching, observing, and participating in great conversations with many thoughtful and interesting people. Those ideas and conversations, everything from hierarchies to impermanence, nomadic spirituality to modern consumption, and current politics to the archetypes of Carl Jung are represented in his current work.
Much of Ryan's work was done at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, Italy, but many sketches and drawings were done in airplanes, restaurants, hotel rooms, bars, coffee shops, trains, parks and bathtubs, somewhere between Rome and London.
Ryan's exhibit title, THE AGILITY DOCTRINE, refers to a hypothetical philosophy of agility and fluidity among pre-historic humans. "With civilization comes the illusion of stability, which creates hierarchies and ultimately pathologies," Ryan says. "Religion and mysticism become coping mechanisms to find the desired stability, even if it exists only in our minds." Currently the world is experiencing a blowback from this need for stability (the antithesis of agility) in religious extremism, corruption and war. A bit of agility right now would be most welcome!
While some of the geometric design motifs in his work were inspired by Gothic Venetian architecture, many of the collage materials were found in trashcans and on the sidewalk. It is this merging of extremes that interests Ryan. A merging of chaos and control, progress and tradition, rationalism and hedonism, renaissance concepts and anti-aesthetic sensibilities, utopian optimism and end-of-the-world pessimism are the themes running through his work. Through contemplating these extremes, Ryan hopes that he and others will experience transformation, become more tolerant, and ultimately more agile.
Ryan was born in 1977 and grew up on a farm in rural Montgomery County. He graduated from Purdue University with a degree in graphic design and shortly thereafter moved to Boulder, Colorado where he worked as an art director and lead designer at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. His work has been exhibited in both group and solo shows in Boulder, Fort Collins and Denver. Ryan's artwork is in permanent collections from New York to Bali. Though schooled in graphic designer, Ryan's is interested in the overlap between emotion and ambiguity in art and shares these ideas through his designs.
Much of his subject matter is drawn from specific points in contemporary culture where new and old ideologies meet. "I'm always interested in the things that individuals are working on to become better people, whether it's being a better listener or not worrying so much," Ryan says. Although there does seem to be an underlying hint of social responsibility in his work, he avoids cliche by finding a balance between chaos and compositional control. His overall aesthetic is hard to pinpoint, though his love of outsider art and children's drawings combined with his experience in effectively simple graphics creates an interesting dichotomy of organic and geometric shapes. "I'm definitely influenced by contemporary design culture as well as the current global art scene, but most of my inspiration comes from the everyday -- overheard conversations, neighborhood birds, bathtubs, found objects, cornbread and friends," says Irvin.
Ryan currently resides in Bloomington, Indiana with his wife, three cats and some rats!
For their exhibit, A TISKET, A TASKET: Abundant Handmade Baskets, weaving artists Peggy Boyd and Judy Tulley challenged themselves to experiment in areas of Basketry they had not attempted before. The results are well worth their effort. Both of these talented women have woven baskets for over twenty years and belong to the Sugar Creek Basket Guild. After having separate businesses for years, they merged their talents and opened A Tisket, A Tasket Basket Shop on the corner of Grant and Lafayette Avenues, where they offer basket weaving classes, basket supplies, basket kits, and hand woven baskets for sale.
Peggy and Judy enjoy teaching all levels of weaving to all ages of students. Teaching and promoting basket weaving is a great part of their love of basketry. The rewards of teaching others basic information, then encouraging them to expand their own creativity is very rewarding, as is the joy of teaching children. Several of their students have received Grand Champion status at local county 4-H events and at the State Fair.
Peggy Boyd received her BS and MS elementary education degrees from Indiana University and taught a variety of grades in the public and private sectors. Her first weaving experience came when a friend invited her to a Park and Recreation Department class on weaving. She immediately became HOOKED! A few years later, after developing enough skills and confidence, she began teaching family and friends. Within a short time, she began teaching formally, creating designs for and teaching basket weaving to many diverse individuals and groups both in Indiana and neighboring states.
In 2005, Peggy was selected to receive the Indiana Arts Commission's "Artist in Residence" award. This honor afforded Peggy the opportunity to demonstrate the art of basket weaving from a historical perspective, to an audience on the grounds of the Lew Wallace Study.
In her travels across the country, Peggy enjoys collecting unique baskets and learning the history of basket weaving, most especially about those produced by Native Americans. She tries to seek out skilled local artisans, learn their materials, styles, and weaving techniques and If possible weave with them. Peggy has had the privilege of weaving sweet grass baskets in South Carolina, Nantucket baskets in Massachusetts, white oak baskets in the Ozarks, porcupine quill baskets in Michigan, Chesapeake Bay goose decoys, Alaskan antler baskets, and fishing creels in Indiana.
When Peggy began weaving baskets just for fun many years ago, she had no idea her passion would lead her into a profession which she still has fun creating and teaching about these "little works of art."
Judy Tulley's interest in weaving baskets began when she and her soon-to-be-married daughter wanted the Maid of Honor, Bridesmaids, and Flower Girl to carry baskets filled with fresh flowers and found no baskets available. After numerous shopping sprees with no tangible results, mother and daughter looked at each other and said "We can do it!" Judy bought the book How to Weave Baskets, Book One and fearlessly began. She not only successfully created the wedding baskets, but found herself absolutely HOOKED on basket weaving! The more she wove the more addicted she became. Through the years Judy has expanded her interest and skills by taking workshops by well-known teachers in many states and countries. "To be able to do something every day that you absolutely love, and to do it with a friend, well, it just doesn't get any better than that," Judy says!
Retiring in 2002 as a Loan Officer for Union Federal Savings and Loan Association, after twenty-three years of service, Judy remains active in her church and belongs to the Kentucky Basket Association, Illinois Basket Association, The Association of Basket Weavers of North Carolina, and the Association of Michigan Basket Weavers. Along with her passion for basket weaving and teaching, Judy enjoys reading, redecorating their homes and boating and water skiing in the summer. A life long resident of Montgomery County, Judy is married to Richard Tulley.
Don't wait, come into the Library and enjoy these joyful exhibits. See you there.
Written for the Journal Review By Diane Hammill, Coordinator CDPL Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery, who may be reached at gallery@cdpl.lib.in.us
Friday, July 27, 2007
Preview Shelf :July 26, 2007
To celebrate an annual commemoration August 1 - August 7, WIC representative Kristie Cox will furnished books for an exhibit at the Crawfordsville District Public Library that ties in with World Breastfeeding Week from adults' and children's points of view. From Jared Fogle in Indianapolis comes "Jared the Subway Guy, winning through losing (guide): 13 lessons for turning your life around". From Mary Hunt comes "Debt-Proof Living, Live Your Life for Half the Price Without Sacrificing the Life You Love". Other guides are Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson's training manual "My Smart Puppy", Teresa Tapp's "Fit and Fabulous in 15 Minutes" physical workout, Dave Ramsey's "The Total Money Makeover" and Ilchi Lee's "Human Technology" toolkit of principles for a well-lived life. Two helps in the field of music are "How to Have Your Hit Song Published" by Jay Warner and "All You Need to Know About the Music Business" by Donald Passman. "The Beach Boys Anthology" offers sheet music to 44 of their classic songs. "The Beat Book" combines writings from that generation edited by Anne Waldman (forward by Allen Ginsberg). Two new books remember the Hungarian revolution of 1956: the small one is Michael Korda's "Journey to a Revolution" and the large photography album is "Revolution in Hungary" by Erich Lessing. "Return to the Hiding Place" by Hans Poley tells the inside story of how Corrie ten Boom's family sheltered him and many others from the Nazis. "The Lucifer Effect" by Philip Zimbardo is about understanding how good people turn evil. "The End of the World as We Know It" by Robert Goolrick is a personal story as the member of a family looking good but hiding evil. "What Paul Meant" discusses how early Christian followers faced divisive issues, and how especially Paul galvanized a movement based on Jesus' teachings. "Retrieving Bones" is a collection of 12 stories and many poems of the Korean War edited by Ehrhart and Jason. Barbara Kingsolver's "Another America" contains her poems that touch important aspects of our lives. "Daddy's Girl" by Colette Huxford shows her childhood innocence told in the narrative style of the poetic novel. Three collections about the 1860s are Suzanne Alexander's "Battle Cry of Freedom" poetry and verse of the Civil War, Paul Negri's "Civil War Poetry: An Anthology", and "The Poetry of the American Civil War" which contains many poets' works about aspects of the period all edited by Lee Steinmetz. Essays about country life make up "The Pond Lovers" by Contrary Farmer Gene Logsdon. "How to Set Up Your Motorcycle Workshop" is offered by C. G. Masi. There is also the very practical Haynes and "Motorcycle Maintenance Techbook" by Keith Weighillare. "Building Without Borders" offers sustainable construction for the global village written by several experts and edited by Joseph F. Kennedy. "Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House" by Carol Venolia and Kelly Lerner is designed to bring a home more into harmony with nature. "The Berry Grower's Companion" by Barbara Bowling includes general principles as well as separate sections on strawberries, blueberries, grapes, minor crops and brambles. "Chasing Wildflowers" is Scott Calhoun's mad search for wild gardens. "One-Skein Wonders" pictures 101 yarn-shop favorites to knit. "The Solar Food Dryer" by Eben Fodor explains how to make and use a high-performance sun-powered flood dehydrator.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
New Items at CDPL
Over 400 young readers have enrolled in the "Read-A-Lot" schedule at the Crawfordsville District Public library. Enchanted rewards have been furnished by the Crawfordsville Park and Rec Department, Applebees, Dairy Queen, McDonald's, and Pizza Hut. More than a few parents have remarked how highly the event has motivated their children. The big display of children's photographs, the castle, and the aura of dragons and knights and dress-up accessories have enhanced the popular attraction. Random House is furnishing a book to each student who completes the program that continues until July 31st. The whole project is underwritten by the Friends of the Library from their monthly Second Saturday book sales. The Friends generosity is enabling the Youth Department to offer 100 teenage participants reading opportunities for final drawings of an IPOD Nano, an IPOD Shuffle, and "The Princess Bride" and "The Prestige" movie DVDs. Congratulations are due! The Youth Department circulated a record 10,000 items in June, many to the 500 participating youngsters. Pleasant new offerings begin with "Shirley Temple: A Pictorial History of the World's Greatest Child Star" by Rita Dubas. Another large book presentation called "Strike Beyond Top Gun" by Rick Llinares shows the Navy Flyer's creed and facilities at Fallon, Nevada where high-performance jet aircraft training is centered. The third is Phil Bergerson's atmospheric "Shards of America" a folio of photographs depicting small town living. Indiana is represented by a living room in Richmond from 1998, and the Spiceland, Indiana senior class picture from 1968. Autobiographical books are Zac Unger's "Working Fire" with the details of his life as a Berkeley, CA fireman, Pat Conroy's "My Losing Season" (The Citadel basketball squad 1966-7), Emily Wu's story of her spellbinding childhood during China's Cultural Revolution titled "Feather in the Storm", and "Born in the Rains" Fadumo Korn's brutal treatment in Somalia as a seven-year-old who survived only because she was sent to Germany. Elizabeth Edwards (wife of John) tells her story "Saving Graces" about how she survived loss and disease, and how she credits the power of community to make our lives better and richer. Geoffrey Canada's shattering story of his sidewalk childhood in the middle of the 1960s Bronx drug scene is "Fist Stick Knife Gun". "Fried Eggs with Chopsticks" is Polly Evans' trip through China observing the culture torn between modern architecture and ancient mysteries. "Adventures in the City" by Ian Frazier "makes us fall in love with New York all over again". "Stick Figure" is Lori Gottlieb's childhood story of being obsessed with Beverly Hills thinness, told as a cautionary tale about the dangers of living up to society's expectations. "The Cowboy and His Elephant" is Malcolm MacPherson's look at Bob Norris (the Marlboro Man) as he adopted a female orphan to raise and return to Africa. "Rabble-Rouser for Peace" is John Allen's biography of Desmond Tutu, Nobel laureate and spiritual father of a democratic South Africa. Poems from the 1950s by Lawrence Ferlinghetti are entitled "A Coney Island of the Mind". An anthology of sacred prose from the B.C. E. era to the mid 20th century as poetry of fulfillment is "The Enlightened Mind" edited by Stephen Mitchell.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Genealogy Club "After Hours" Program
The Genealogy Club of Montgomery County will hold its next "After Hours Genealogy Research" Program on Friday, July 27, from 5:00-9:00pm at CDPL. This is a pizza supper and genealogy research program that takes place in the library...after it is closed for the day. There is no charge, but donations for the pizza are accepted!
5:00pm -- pizza in the Donnelly Room (lower lever)
5:45pm -- research in local history and reference area (2nd level)
9:00pm -- final closing
Advanced arrival (before 5:00pm) is required because the library is locked at 5:00pm.
Visitors are always welcome!
Please confirm your expected attendance by Wednesday, July 25, by calling 765-362-2242 (ext 118) or e-mailing gen@cdpl.lib.in.us
5:00pm -- pizza in the Donnelly Room (lower lever)
5:45pm -- research in local history and reference area (2nd level)
9:00pm -- final closing
Advanced arrival (before 5:00pm) is required because the library is locked at 5:00pm.
Visitors are always welcome!
Please confirm your expected attendance by Wednesday, July 25, by calling 765-362-2242 (ext 118) or e-mailing gen@cdpl.lib.in.us
Genealogy Club upcoming program
The Genealogy Club of Montgomery County will have a presentation at its next meeting: July 10, 2007 at 7:00pm, in the library's Donnelly Room. Presenting will by Karen Zach, teacher and genealogist. She will be speaking on "Writing Family Memoirs." The public is invited! Call 765-362-2242 (ext 4) for more information.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
In the Gallery this month!
Creative Restoration Expressed in Acrylic, Mixed Media and Wood
The impassioned RESTORATION creativity of two unique and unusual Crawfordsville artists will be exhibited in the cool comfort of the Library's Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery during the hot and humid days of July. These imaginative expressions of Nina Smith, acrylic and mixed media artist, and Mike Abney, wood working artist, quietly await visitors who will have the opportunity to merge with energetic works and enjoy the artist's vision.
RESTORATION: Acrylic/Mixed Media works by Nina J. Smith depicting a Recovered Past, Answered Prayers and Hope
In 1965, Nina (pronounced 9-ah) Smith was born in a rural area surrounded by dairy cows, rolling hills and rivers in Rome, New York.
The flat countryside and fields of corn and soybeans in Indiana, was a real surprise for Nina when she moved here from New York in 1997. As quoted by Georgia O'Keeffe, "Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest",
In her early years, she often doodled in a notebook or on poster board with a ball point pen. Her maternal grandfather encouraged her to develop these talents and suggested college. Nina paid attention, began her education in advertising and design at a Community College and then transferred to Buffalo, New York where she majored in Graphic Arts. In 1989, she received a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Design and was ready to support herself with her skills.
Nina's design style developed while working as a graphic designer, currently working for a local screen printing company. Yearning for more on a personal level, Nina was drawn to fine art. She picked up a brush and began painting in acrylic. In this medium she could express personal feelings and emotions, not just paint a piece for sale. Her painting became therapy and a path to her own free expression.
In the realm of acrylics and the technical side of the fine arts, Nina is self-taught, but found herself greatly influenced by pop artist James Rosenquist and surreal artists Rene Magritte and Frida Kahlo while wandering the galleries of the Albright-Knox Contemporary Museum in Buffalo, New York.
Some of her paintings have a surreal quality, but she tries not to limit herself to one type or style. She prefers experimenting with texture, color, found objects and several different mediums to convey a personal story. With only a title as explanation, Nina asks the viewer to interpret the piece for themselves, and then join her on her journey.
Nina's drive and over-ambition to achieve a sense of self-worth through art, has often contributed to her downfall as an artist. To avoid this pitfall, Nina began embracing the Gift Giver (God) and now finds her art inspired with honesty.
"Art and life are often distorted by logic", Nina says, "just as faith and emotion are warped by over-analyzation and a human filter wanting to explain everything by science, politics, or law, rather than a simple trust in our own inherent beliefs".
The paintings and mixed media pieces in this exhibit are a representation of Nina's restoration. Some pieces represent a past no longer dwelt upon, others a present filled with determination and a will to change and be changed. Still others look toward a future filled with hope on a journey toward wholeness in testimony to the ultimate artist, God.
SHEKINAH WOOD TURNING: by Mike Abney
And a light broke through . . .
Mike Abney was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana. As a boy, he played along the banks of Sugar Creek and spent many nights in the woods, hunting 'coon. He knows "the hills and the hollers" like the back of his hand and can share exciting stories as he walks through the countryside.
Because of Mike's dyslexia, school was very difficult for him. He was unable to complete 7th grade, and to this day, struggles in a world of signs, numbers and letters. Soon after Mike accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior, new opportunities began to emerge. He met and was discipled by Pastor George Markey. Through the fellowship of the church, he became friends with Rick Payne. It was Rick who taught him the basics of reading. Later Mike worked with Bill Prescott of the CARA reading program to learn more.
Mike still rejoices when he remembers the first Bible verse he was able to read:
Preserve me, O God; for in You, I put my trust. (Psalm 16:1)
The Abney's home-gallery contains lovely wood pieces made from apricot, eucalyptus, oak, walnut, curly maple, cherry, sycamore, beech and other hard woods. As an amateur lathe turner, Mike likes to season his own wood and make many of his own tools. He often uses knots, burls, spalted woods and crotch pieces to create unique forms of art.
Mike has displayed his wooden bowls, vases and art pieces during several of Indiana's festivals and art shows. His work is also available in the Susie Gibbs Art Gallery in Lafayette and at the Lew Wallace Study in Crawfordsville. Most recently he was invited to display his work at the Frankfort Library. His "Termite Vase" was selected as part of the permanent art collection at Ivy Technical College in Lafayette. He is the 2004 Crawfordsville Art League, Downtown Art Fair Merit Award Winner.
His lathe-turned pieces can be found in homes and businesses throughout the United States and in private collections in Tibet, England and the Ukraine. He has enjoyed the times when an interpreter has called asking to bring a foreign visitor to Mike's shop. He demonstrates for school shop-classes and is available for private tutoring. Upon request, Mike makes special personalized pieces such as trophies and gifts for weddings, births, retirements and other special occasions.
For all of these accomplishments and more, Mike gives glory to the Lord.
Come often and stay long enjoying the work in this reflective, refreshing exhibit. You will be so happy you did.
The impassioned RESTORATION creativity of two unique and unusual Crawfordsville artists will be exhibited in the cool comfort of the Library's Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery during the hot and humid days of July. These imaginative expressions of Nina Smith, acrylic and mixed media artist, and Mike Abney, wood working artist, quietly await visitors who will have the opportunity to merge with energetic works and enjoy the artist's vision.
RESTORATION: Acrylic/Mixed Media works by Nina J. Smith depicting a Recovered Past, Answered Prayers and Hope
In 1965, Nina (pronounced 9-ah) Smith was born in a rural area surrounded by dairy cows, rolling hills and rivers in Rome, New York. The flat countryside and fields of corn and soybeans in Indiana, was a real surprise for Nina when she moved here from New York in 1997. As quoted by Georgia O'Keeffe, "Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest",
In her early years, she often doodled in a notebook or on poster board with a ball point pen. Her maternal grandfather encouraged her to develop these talents and suggested college. Nina paid attention, began her education in advertising and design at a Community College and then transferred to Buffalo, New York where she majored in Graphic Arts. In 1989, she received a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Design and was ready to support herself with her skills.
Nina's design style developed while working as a graphic designer, currently working for a local screen printing company. Yearning for more on a personal level, Nina was drawn to fine art. She picked up a brush and began painting in acrylic. In this medium she could express personal feelings and emotions, not just paint a piece for sale. Her painting became therapy and a path to her own free expression.
In the realm of acrylics and the technical side of the fine arts, Nina is self-taught, but found herself greatly influenced by pop artist James Rosenquist and surreal artists Rene Magritte and Frida Kahlo while wandering the galleries of the Albright-Knox Contemporary Museum in Buffalo, New York.
Some of her paintings have a surreal quality, but she tries not to limit herself to one type or style. She prefers experimenting with texture, color, found objects and several different mediums to convey a personal story. With only a title as explanation, Nina asks the viewer to interpret the piece for themselves, and then join her on her journey.
Nina's drive and over-ambition to achieve a sense of self-worth through art, has often contributed to her downfall as an artist. To avoid this pitfall, Nina began embracing the Gift Giver (God) and now finds her art inspired with honesty.
"Art and life are often distorted by logic", Nina says, "just as faith and emotion are warped by over-analyzation and a human filter wanting to explain everything by science, politics, or law, rather than a simple trust in our own inherent beliefs".
The paintings and mixed media pieces in this exhibit are a representation of Nina's restoration. Some pieces represent a past no longer dwelt upon, others a present filled with determination and a will to change and be changed. Still others look toward a future filled with hope on a journey toward wholeness in testimony to the ultimate artist, God.
SHEKINAH WOOD TURNING: by Mike Abney
And a light broke through . . .Mike Abney was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana. As a boy, he played along the banks of Sugar Creek and spent many nights in the woods, hunting 'coon. He knows "the hills and the hollers" like the back of his hand and can share exciting stories as he walks through the countryside.
Because of Mike's dyslexia, school was very difficult for him. He was unable to complete 7th grade, and to this day, struggles in a world of signs, numbers and letters. Soon after Mike accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior, new opportunities began to emerge. He met and was discipled by Pastor George Markey. Through the fellowship of the church, he became friends with Rick Payne. It was Rick who taught him the basics of reading. Later Mike worked with Bill Prescott of the CARA reading program to learn more.
Mike still rejoices when he remembers the first Bible verse he was able to read:
Preserve me, O God; for in You, I put my trust. (Psalm 16:1)
The Abney's home-gallery contains lovely wood pieces made from apricot, eucalyptus, oak, walnut, curly maple, cherry, sycamore, beech and other hard woods. As an amateur lathe turner, Mike likes to season his own wood and make many of his own tools. He often uses knots, burls, spalted woods and crotch pieces to create unique forms of art.
Mike has displayed his wooden bowls, vases and art pieces during several of Indiana's festivals and art shows. His work is also available in the Susie Gibbs Art Gallery in Lafayette and at the Lew Wallace Study in Crawfordsville. Most recently he was invited to display his work at the Frankfort Library. His "Termite Vase" was selected as part of the permanent art collection at Ivy Technical College in Lafayette. He is the 2004 Crawfordsville Art League, Downtown Art Fair Merit Award Winner.
His lathe-turned pieces can be found in homes and businesses throughout the United States and in private collections in Tibet, England and the Ukraine. He has enjoyed the times when an interpreter has called asking to bring a foreign visitor to Mike's shop. He demonstrates for school shop-classes and is available for private tutoring. Upon request, Mike makes special personalized pieces such as trophies and gifts for weddings, births, retirements and other special occasions.
For all of these accomplishments and more, Mike gives glory to the Lord.
Come often and stay long enjoying the work in this reflective, refreshing exhibit. You will be so happy you did.
Monday, June 18, 2007
More web pages in Spanish
You may notice soon that the CDPL web site is attempting to convert many of its pages into Spanish. If a page is already translated, you'll see a small box in the upper-left corner with two links: English | Español. The web pages always open up in English, but you can instantly convert a page into Spanish (and back into English again) by clicking the appropriate link. For a good example, just go to our CDPL home page, our Circulation page, our InterLibrary Loan page, etc. More to come later!
Friday, June 08, 2007
Carnegie Museum opens!
The Carnegie Museum of Montgomery County is now open to the public (starting June 9th)! Come see what we have to offer...and examine your history.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
A Delightfully Creative Duet! The Art of Don & Helen Weisflog
Don and Helen Weisflog, our delightfully creative duet, met and married in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1972 and had one child, Amy. Don, a born artist and teacher, graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee with M.S and M.F.A degrees. His undergraduate degree came from La Crosse State University in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Don Weisflog, who passed away in 2006, after booking this exhibit with his wife Helen, spoke of his art as a way of life, not just a profession. Most of the great artists were born teachers. While not thinking of himself as a great artist, but as a good artist always trying to improve, Don was also filled with the passion to teach. One cannot teach a student unless he/she is open to and interested in learning about the material presented. With proper direction, the student is capable of motivating him/herself to learn and create within and without of the rules of the discipline. Don felt a person learned best when they became deeply involved in a subject. Involvement follows interest and is related to an understanding of real life, he said. During his teaching career at Ivy Tech, Lafayette and Anderson, IN, Anderson University, Anderson, IN, Carthage College, Kenosha, WI, Shorewood Opportunity School, Milwaukee, WI and the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, Don made a great effort to relate whatever course he was teaching to his student and his/her development as an individual. Facts are important, he went on to say, but going beyond the facts to create in the students an enthusiasm for the course work as it relates to life development, is much more important. Interest is generated when information filters through a student's thinking process. Don inspired this interest by asking a multitude of questions geared to wring out a student's own ideas about the presentation. A professor's job is to open and expand the minds of students who then use this information to construct stronger and more understandable criteria for their own lives. Gaining self-confidence in themselves and in what they create will help provide them an opportunity to comfortably share their unique perspective with the world. Stillwater, Oklahoma born Helen Ann Spangler Weisflog moved to St. Paul, Minnesota when she was six months old. She attended grade school, high school and three years of study at Macalester College in St. Paul before moving to Kenosha, Wisconsin where she graduated from Carthage College with an English degree and met and married husband Don. In 1975, they moved to Anderson, Indiana where Don began teaching Art at Anderson University. Helen spent her time taking care of their daughter Amy, volunteering for Brownies, Girls Scouts and directing Girl Scout Camp. At the same time she owned and managed a catering business, did interior design and helped Don with large art projects and installations. Sounds like a pretty busy schedule, doesn't it? In 1985, Don and Helen moved to Colfax, Indiana where Don held several positions, including one as the lead designer of Old Indiana Fun Park. Helen was the secretary for Old Indiana and several Lafayette companies. Helen's artwork began with acrylics in 1974, watercolor in 1985 and paper pulp art forms in 2002. Still progressing toward whatever looks interesting; Helen has developed a new interest in altered photographs printed on canvas. When Helen asked Don about her own artwork, he said he would be happy to teach her techniques, but never ideas. He taught her, as he taught all his students, friends and colleagues, by asking questions that drew out her own artistic ideas. Softly guiding her thinking by exposing her to his own deep love of art and the beauty he saw in everything and everyone, Don then left her alone to express herself in her own way. Now that you know a bit more about this DELIGHTFULLY CREATIVE DUET, you will definitely want to visit the Library's Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery from Saturday, May 26 until Friday, June 29 to enjoy in depth the eclectically beautiful creations of Don and Helen Weisflog.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Upcoming Carnegie Museum exhibit!
Tuttle Middle School students have been on site at the Carnegie Museum to help prepare the inaugural exhibit in the temporary Exhibition Gallery. It is a collaboration between Tuttle Middle School, Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power, the Montgomery County Historical Society, and the Carnegie. "Exploring the Shocking World of Electricity" will include the history of electricity and CEL&P. Visit the Carnegie Museum home page to see some pictures.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Carnegie Museum volunteer callout
If you would like information about volunteering at our new Carnegie Museum, we will have an information night on May 17, from 3 - 5 pm, at the public library. There will also be a tour of the Carnegie Museum and refreshments. For more information, please contact Kat Burkhart (362-2242, carnegie@cdpl.lib.in.us)
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
In the Gallery this month!
North Montgomery School Corporation's Bratton Initiative & Art Teacher Exhibit Result in Scintillating Library ExhibitIn striving for excellence, the North Montgomery Community School Corporation has initiated fifteen bold, forward looking reform initiatives named for Montgomery County resident William E. Bratton, famed member of the Louisiana Purchase Lewis and Clark Discovery Expedition, and later first official superintendent of Montgomery County's Public Schools. These initiatives are meant to further enhance the well-rounded educational experience now in place in the North Montgomery Community School system. One of these fifteen initiatives involves hosting a district-wide art contest and exhibit, showcasing the artistic adventures of students and art teachers from the North Montgomery County Elementary Schools, Middle School and High School. Over two-hundred images, resulting from this positive collaborative experience, may be found in the Library's Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery during the entire month of May. Viewing this outstanding gathering of creativity, from grades K-12, is an absolute must for those yearning for a fresh, warm sunshiny spring experience. Do come often and stay long. You won't want to miss a thing!
As one of the promoters of this unique North Montgomery Student Display, Sugar Creek Elementary School Art Teacher, Kim Goebel, will be exhibiting her personal art work in Gallery Two of the display. As a youngster growing up, Kim never knew she had a talent for art until as a senior in high school she took the only art class offered in the Dickson, Tennessee School System. Earlier, Kim's older sister Teresa, had taken the class and became quite talented, so Kim figured if her sister could do it, so could she. That was the humble beginning of a lifetime career of challenging herself to learn more and more about any art medium that attracted her fancy. In 1980 Kim graduated with an Art Degree from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN, in spite of the fact that one of her first art teachers, looking at a piece of her work, told her she had no talent for art and should choose another career! At the time of her graduation, teaching positions were hard to find, so Kim took a job at Vanderbilt University Law Library. Her first teaching position, after moving to Indiana, was at Thorntown Elementary School. When an Art Teacher position opened at the North Montgomery School District, Kim jumped at the chance and applied. She has been teaching art in grades K-5 for twenty-one years and absolutely LOVES it, telling her students how lucky she feels to get paid for having so much fun! In her personal art, Kim enjoys using pastel, watercolor, colored pencil and acrylics on paper or fabric for her quilted wall-hangings. Her real passion is painting animals, most especially her own pets. Working primarily from photos, Kim continues to strive for striking realism in every piece of her work. As her artistic vision widens, Kim transfers her artistic skills to the art of quilting, joyfully working to create large pieces, at very little expense, which she is unable to do in any other medium. Her spectacular art quilt wall-hangings incorporate the plethora of light; bright colors necessary to convey the realism for which she strives. Horses are another of Kim's passions. Gratefully, by teaching horseback riding classes in the summer, Kim is able to not only indulge her own passion, but impart that passion to both adults and children in her beginning and intermediate horseback riding classes. This beautiful, eclectically talented woman graciously glows with the pleasure of having two jobs which bring her so much pleasure! Kim's work hangs in many private collections across the United States. Many of the pieces displayed in this exhibition have been borrowed from those collectors. Kim enjoys the challenge of doing commissioned art pieces and is always happy to work out a quote for anyone interested in owning a painting. She may be reached at 364-9527.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Carnegie Museum of Montgomery County progress
The reconstruction and remodeling of the Carnegie Museum has come very far since December 2005 when we first began to gut the interior of the old library in order to transform it into a modern museum -- while restoring the original building's grandeur. Be sure to visit the Carnegie Museum's web site too see more reconstruction pictures.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Carnegie Museum hours announced
When the Carnegie Museum opens this spring, the hours will be Wednesday through Saturday 10am-5pm, but additional tours will be given by appointment.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Carnegie Museum opening this spring!
The Carnegie building served from 1902 to 2005 as the Crawfordsville Public Library. When the museum opens visitors will be able to view the building in it restored glory. The original floors containing mosaic tile from 1902 will greet visitors as they enter the building.
Owned and operated by the Crawfordsville District Public Library, the purpose of the Carnegie Museum is to be an interdisciplinary museum of Montgomery County and for the people of Montgomery County. It will contain history, art, science, and culture.
The two story museum houses six galleries with various themes and a rotating exhibition schedule within those themes. The inaugural exhibit in the temporary Exhibition Gallery is collaboration between Tuttle Middle School, Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power, the Montgomery County Historical Society, and the Carnegie. "Exploring the Shocking World of Electricity" will include the history of electricity and CEL&P.
Other galleries include the Business & Industry Gallery which features both past and present businesses of the county. The Athens Gallery will focus on literature, learning, arts & culture, military and democracy. Other galleries will cover Sports & Pop Culture Gallery, Montgomery County highlights and Early History.
The museum is located at 222 S. Washington Street (US 231), two blocks south of the courthouse. Parking is located behind the building.
Hours: Please call for more information.
Admission: Free
Owned and operated by the Crawfordsville District Public Library, the purpose of the Carnegie Museum is to be an interdisciplinary museum of Montgomery County and for the people of Montgomery County. It will contain history, art, science, and culture.
The two story museum houses six galleries with various themes and a rotating exhibition schedule within those themes. The inaugural exhibit in the temporary Exhibition Gallery is collaboration between Tuttle Middle School, Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power, the Montgomery County Historical Society, and the Carnegie. "Exploring the Shocking World of Electricity" will include the history of electricity and CEL&P.
Other galleries include the Business & Industry Gallery which features both past and present businesses of the county. The Athens Gallery will focus on literature, learning, arts & culture, military and democracy. Other galleries will cover Sports & Pop Culture Gallery, Montgomery County highlights and Early History.
The museum is located at 222 S. Washington Street (US 231), two blocks south of the courthouse. Parking is located behind the building.
Hours: Please call for more information.
Admission: Free
Friday, March 30, 2007
Present Indiana Program -- Vonnegut: a Hoosier Legacy
The Present Indiana Program invites you to Vonnegut: A Hoosier Legacy, by Aaron Spolarich (Wabash College '08)
Monday - April 2, 2007 @ 7:00 p.m.
Lower Level Classroom (Room D)
Find out more!
Monday - April 2, 2007 @ 7:00 p.m.
Lower Level Classroom (Room D)
Find out more!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Gallery: Spring's Delicate, Delicious Dance of the Quilts
Winter hibernation is over! Spirits rise with the first hint of spring! Fantastic fabric forays, fresh from the hands of Sugar Creek Quilt Artist's winter wonderland, are blooming quietly in a profusion of color and beauty in the Public Library's Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery beginning Monday, March 19 and lasting until Tuesday, May 1, 2007.With a core of 60 active members, Sugar Creek Quilters try to learn about and enjoy everything relating to the art of quilting. Member's interests range from those who enjoy simply being around or under quilts, to those who create bed quilts, art-quilts, patterns, clothing and everything in between. Members' fun-loving camaraderie, whether visiting a quilt shop, taking a class or quilting together, is an amazing thing to see and always is so stimulating.
The group meets in the Public Library's Lower Level on the third Monday of each month at 6:30. Everyone is welcome! Cost for membership is $15.00 per year. This includes a monthly newsletter, the opportunity to take workshops and hear state-of-the-art speakers at each monthly meeting.
Quilters travel on a whim, in groups or alone, to quilt shows and shops around the country. A visit to Rosemont, Illinois and Paducah, Kentucky each April is always a treat, as is the March Bloomington Indiana exhibit. Minnesota and Wisconsin attract attention with exhibits in June and September.
A road trip to Threads of Time, a new quilt shop in Danville, Illinois, provided a uniquely unusual winter rescue for mired minds. What a joy to be welcomed so warmly by a happy, knowledgeable staff, whose customer service skills were way above the ordinary. On the drive home, members raved about being served tasty refreshments, the quality and diversity of merchandise and the pleasantness of the owner and staff. I guarantee you, no one left with just refreshments!!!
Quilts, this year, have interesting and enticing titles; Humble Pie, Hangin' Out to Dry, Texas Two Step, Black and White Beauty, Friends on the Block, My Feathered Friends, The Heart of Peace, Everyone Needs A Place in the Sun, Girls from Ghana and Are We There Yet? With names like these, imagine what the quilts look like, then pay a visit to the exhibit and see how close your vision comes to the real thing. I promise you'll enjoy!
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Construction pictures of Carnegie Museum
The Carnegie building is in the final stages of its remodeling to become the Carnegie Museum of Montgomery County! You can view some recent pictures on the Carnegie web site.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Library closed on Friday, March 9
The library will be closed all day on Friday, March 9, in order to host a district library conference. We will reopen on Saturday, March 10, at 9am. We apologize for any inconvenience!
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